August 14, 2003

Embassy of the United States of America
Belgrade

STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR WILLIAM D. MONTGOMERY ON THE EVENTS IN GORAZDEVAC, KOSOVO ON AUGUST 13, 2003

"This was a despicable act, committed by cruel and heartless people. It was designed to end any chance of reconciliation. It's something that should be condemned by the entire world. My sympathies go to the victims and their loved ones. We all must be united now to help bring these killers to justice. And to keep going for a process of reconciliation."

"All over the world, whether it is in Jerusalem or other places, whenever there are chances for reconciliation, chances for peace, there are those who are opposed to that, there are those who want to use extremism and violence, who do so in order to prevent peace and reconciliation from happening again. We see it all over the world. And that's what we are seeing in Kosovo now. And again, what we must do as a united, international community, along with the people living in the region, is to fight that. In every way possible. Both by bringing the perpetrators to justice and also by maintaining our resolve that they are not going to succeed. If we allow them to get away, if we walk away from Kosovo, because we see it was impossible, they will have won. And we just cannot allow them to win. We must be steadfast in preventing this from happening."