"They gave us hope when we didn't have it."
Leaders around the world have paid tribute to Madeleine Albright, the first female US Secretary of State.
Madeleine Albright died Wednesday at the age of 84, according to the Associated Press.
In Bosnia, Albright is well remembered as the US ambassador to the United Nations, who presented to the UN Security Council in the summer of 1995 the first evidence of atrocities committed during the 'barbaric' war in Srebrenica, Bosnia. More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed in a 10-day massacre following the occupation of Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995.
The Bosnian Serb army systematically killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys and dumped their bodies in mass graves.
The Serbs later dug several graves and re-buried the bodies to hide the evidence.
Bosnian President Haris Slajic said of Albright that "she was a true champion of justice, she could not digest injustice."
"She knew in that look that she had been wronged and that she was looking for ways to fix it," he said.
"They gave us hope when we didn't have it," said Kosovo President Vajusa Osmani. They became our voice and our arm when we had neither voice nor arm. He felt the pain of our people because he had experienced self-abuse as a child. That's why she stood up against Milosevic to stop the genocide in Kosovo. "
Osmani added that "Albright supported Kosovo to the last breath and that is why the people of Kosovo will remember him forever."
Czech Prime Minister Peter Fialla said of Albright: "Few world leaders have done as much for our country as Madeleine Albright. Albright got a chance in the world, he made the best use of it. Thanks! We will never forget you. "
Bill Clinton, who nominated Albright as President of the United States in 1996, recalled his last visit with him almost three years ago. The visit was to Kosovo, where a statue was erected in his honor in the capital, Pristina, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the War of Independence.
Bill Clinton said that because she knew that US policy decisions have the power to change the lives of people around the world, she saw her jobs as both a responsibility and an opportunity.
She recently said in a statement that she supports Ukraine and its independence in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden recalled on Wednesday that working with Secretary of State Albright on the Foreign Relations Committee during the 1990s was one of the highlights of his career in the United States Senate. As the world redefined itself in the wake of the Cold War, we were partners and friends working to welcome new independent democracies into NATO and to counter the horrors of genocide in the Balkans. '
