(24 Mar 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Pan across street, from sign to people gathered at border post
2. Sign reading Republic of Kosovo
3. Wide of motorcade bringing Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci
4. Tracking shot of Thaci greeting officials
5. Various of Thaci shaking hands with gathered civilians
6. Thaci unveiling memorial plaque
7. Various of plaque
8. SOUNDBITE (Albanian) Hashim Thaci, Kosovo Prime Minister:
"Today is a day of remembrance of sacrifice. It is a day of a message for the world. We have unveiled a plaque of remembrance, the plaque of suffering and sacrifice for over half a million people that stayed here in the cold rain and mud, that were deported by trains and forcefully expelled from their homes and properties."
9. Thaci leaving
10. Kosovo flag on pole
STORYLINE
Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci hailed the 10th anniversary of the NATO bombing that ended Belgrade's rule in Kosovo as "a great historic day."
Thaci, who was the head of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army during the 1998-99 war, unveiled a plaque on Tuesday remembering some 800-thousand ethnic Albanians who were forced into neighbouring Macedonia and Albania by Serb forces as NATO's air war got underway.
"Today is a day of remembrance of sacrifice," Thaci told reporters after unveiling the plaque.
NATO launched the air raids on March 24, 1999 to force then-President Slobodan Milosevic to halt his brutal onslaught on predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo.
The alliance destroyed many of Serbia's roads, bridges and factories before Milosevic conceded defeat in June.
About 10-thousand people were killed in Kosovo alone and about 800-thousand expelled during the war.
Milosevic was charged with genocide by a United Nations tribunal for the atrocities committed there and elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia.
He died in 2006 while on trial.
NATO has made no official comment regarding the anniversary.
But an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told The Associated Press that the launch of the attacks "was a decision that was not taken lightly."
Serbian officials denounced the raids and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic on Tuesday said the bombing was an " illegal act" and that 2,500 civilians - including 89 children - and 1,002 soldiers and policemen were killed.
The predominantly ethnic Albanian region of Kosovo declared independence last year with the backing of the United States and most EU nations.
But Serbia says it will never to accept Kosovo's independence.
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