Former NATO commander, retired Gen. Wesley Clark to visit Kosovo

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark will arrive Wednesday for a three-day visit to Kosovo, officials said.

Clark was the supreme allied commander of NATO from 1997-2000 and was the commanding general in NATO's war in the Serbian province in 1999 which halted Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

He will visit Kosovo at the invitation of Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku, said Ulpiana Lama, the prime minister's spokeswoman.

Clark, who made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. presidential elections, is considered a hero by the province's ethnic Albanians who want the province to become independent. He was reviled by many Serbs for his role during the bombing campaign.

Ahead of his visit, billboards were placed around the province's capital, Pristina, and local authorities in the western town of Djakovica named a road after him.

The U.N. is currently conducting talks aimed at steering ethnic Albanians and Serbian officials toward settling the final status of the province.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while Serbs want it to remain part of Serbia.