A Hero's Welcome In Kosovo For Vice President Biden

Posted: Thursday, May 21, 2009 | Posted by Chico Brisbane | Labels: , , , , , , ,

Kosovo children cheer as US VP Joe Biden arrived in Kosovo's capital Pristina, 21 May 2009

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. received a hero's welcome Thursday as one of the highest-level officials yet to visit Kosovo since its disputed declaration of independence from Serbia last year.

"Kosovo's independence was the only viable option for stability in the region," Biden told a special sitting of the Kosovo parliament in Pristina. Cheered on by a huge crowd, Vice President Biden's motorcade had made its way towards the parliament along
streets lined by billboards declaring: "Welcome and thank you."


"Your independence is irreversible," he said in a speech that received several standing ovations from the ethnic Albanian dominated assembly
"The success of an independent Kosovo is a priority for our administration and our country."



The US vice president is considered one of Washington's strongest advocates of the independence of ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo, which declared its secession from Serbia in February last year. Coming after trips to Bosnia and Serbia, Biden's visit to Kosovo is his final stop on a tour to demonstrate fresh US engagement in Europe and the volatile Balkan region. Earlier, after meeting with President Fatmir Sejdui, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and other leaders, Biden said Kosovo awarded him with "The Golden Medal of Freedom," the highest decoration in the Balkan territory.

"Thank you... for honouring me with this medal... I don't deserve it, but I received it on behalf of the United States," Biden told reporters. Local media hailed the visit of Biden, one of the strongest supporters of Kosovo's independence when he served as a senator in the late 1990s.

"Mr. Biden is one of the few politicians in the world that has long believed in the independence of Kosovo. For his contribution to changing our destiny, Biden is our man," the Express daily said Thursday in a commentary. Kosovo's decision to split from Serbia on February 17, 2008 is strongly opposed by Belgrade and Serbs, who number little more than 100,000 in the disputed territory of two million inhabitants. During the Clinton Administration, US warplanes took part in NATO's 1999 bombing of Serbia to end a violent crackdown on separatist Kosovo Albanian rebels by forces loyal to late president Slobodan Milosevic.