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One of the most significant events for the United Arab Emirates in the final year of the twentieth century has been its humanitarian and military contribution to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Kosovo. All the other members of the peacekeeping force have commended our troops on their high level of training and commitment.
Their ability to carry out the difficult task of fairly maintaining peace between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in Vucitrn, a particularly difficult town near the Serb border with a large Serb minority, has earned them respect from all the members of KFOR with whom they share this mission.
The UAE's humanitarian effort is being led by the country's Red Crescent Society, who, with the aid of our troops, and in co-ordination with the UNHCR, has already begun distributing building materials, food and other essential items to people in the more remote areas of Kosovo. As part of the Kosovo reconstruction plan UAE troops have committed to reconstruct 1,000 houses and are providing medical teams to the people in their area of control.
This is not all, in the first days of their mission members of the armed forces where dispatched to Kukas to convert an old World War Two airstrip into an international Airport capable of handling large aircraft - it now ships in more than 150 tons of aid per day. Aside from this tremendous achievement, other areas of the UAE's humanitarian commitment have been extensively praised. The Red Crescent Society's refugee camp has been lauded as a model of comparative cleanliness and order and is often referred to as the "best camp' by returning Albanian refugees. The UAE mission does not stand still, it has already rebuilt four schools and runs a 60-bed hospital in Vucitrn, which is receiving increasing numbers of patients because of the quality of its treatment, and is gearing up to help the Albanians rebuild their society.
What makes the UAE's commitment so significant, both in humanitarian and military terms, is that it demonstrates just how efficient and effective an Arab State can be when responding to such an immense international political challenge. It has not only been the efforts of the government that have made it successful, it has been the tremendous support of our people who mobilised both financial aid and teams of field workers quickly, which enabled our country to focus our relief effort to meet the most urgent needs.
I am proud that the government, at the behest of our President, His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, undertook this commitment. It demonstrates our maturity as a nation and a people. In twenty-eight short years we have grown from a small insignificant statelet that relied on the protection of others, to become a country that is now able to take an active role in world affairs, standing shoulder to shoulder with long established nations to confront and help solve problems facing the global community.
Another positive aspect of our commitment to KFOR is that it will help change the perception of Arabs in the West, where we are frequently portrayed by the media as wild-eyed religious fanatics who commit acts of terrorism against civilian populations.
The West fails to see all the positive aspects of Arab society and the principles of our religion, Islam, which guides all our actions.
So as the new century begins, we too are entering a new era, which, I am sure, will see the maturing of all the Gulf countries, enabling them to play an active role in the security and well being of not only the region but around the world.
Khalaf Al Habtoor
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Chairman's Message