What do you know about Kosovo? Most may heave heard the name of the
conflict ridden Eastern European country in international news during the 1990's
when it fought a bloody separatist war against the forces of the notorious Slobodan
Milosevic. But back in August of 2008, Kosovo made news locally when the government
of Belize formally recognized the republic of Kosovo as an independent state.
In so doing, it joined 59 other countries who have done so. But the
Kosovers who self - declared independence from Serbia are asking the other 140
or so nations to recognize them as well. And that's why James Berisha
is flying all over the Americas, visiting 34 countries in total to ask them
to support Kosovo's independence or in the cases of countries like Belize
and Costa Rica, to thank them for supporting. The pilot is flying a single engine
plane and trying to generate as much publicity for his cause as possible. He
stopped in at our studio yesterday on his way through Belize to say "thanks,
Belize."
James Berisha,
"I came all the way from Villermosa to thank the people of Belize
for recognizing Kosovo's independence. It means to a lot to them and it
means a lot to me as well. As an airline pilot I am crossing 34 countries to
give thanks to the countries that have recognized Kosovo as independent and
the ones that have not recognized it, to see if they can do so."
Jules Vasquez,
Why is independence so important for the Kosovers?
James Berisha,
"It is very important because if a country does not recognize you
as an independent state, you are basically from out of space, your passport
is not recognized, there is no international agreement between two countries,
there is all kinds of problems and out of 2.2 million people that Kosovo has,
850,000 were kicked out of the country."
Jules Vasquez,
This was ethnic cleansing initiated by Milosevic against Albanians.
James Berisha,
"Exactly in 1999 which included my father, he was killed by Serbia
and I would like to get my message to everybody on planet to recognize us. There
is no ways of going back to avoid this struggle so people know that we are a
nation. There is no going back."
Berisha headed for Guatemala last night. After that he's off to El Salvador.
You can track his mission online.