[ALBSA-Info] {QIKSH «ALBEUROPA»} =?iso-8859-1?Q?Albania_Honors_NATO's_Shea_For_Kosovo_Role_?=

[Nikoll A Mirakaj]

Albania Honors NATO's Shea For Kosovo Role 

TIRANA, Oct 24, 2000 -- (Reuters) Albania awarded NATO spokesman Jamie Shea its Golden Eagle medal on Monday and thanked him for being "a face of truth and hope" during last year's Kosovo war.

Shea, who became a daily fixture for Albanian television viewers and ethnic Albanian refugees here during NATO's 11-week campaign to drive Serb forces from Kosovo, received his medal from President Rexhep Meidani at a ceremony in Tirana.

He joins U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former NATO military commander Wesley Clark on the list of personalities whom Albania has honored for helping to end Serb aggression in Kosovo.

"I decided to award Mr Jamie Shea...for the distinguished contribution to the settlement of the Kosovo crisis, protecting the values of humanity, democracy, freedom and human rights," Meidani said.

He called Shea a protagonist in "the greatest media battle that the democratic world has waged" against former president Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia.

"Jamie Shea was one of the most well-known faces of this victory of humanity, the face of truth and hope for all those on the run from their homes, who suffered in the mountains and for the deportees in refugee camps," Meidani said.

(C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited. 

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