“The memories of the loss of the loved ones are still fresh”, he told reporters after talks with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.
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US Vice President Joe Biden delivers a speech during a press conference with Kosovo’s President as part of his visit in Pristina on August 17, 2016.
U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden did not honor diplomatic protocol when failed stop in front of the Serbian flag and honor it by “a slight bow”.
The demonstration was meant to be timed with Biden’s stay in the capital, as the vice president is seen by many in Serbia as representing unwanted U.S. involvement in the country – something demonstrators said would not happen under GOP presidential nominee Trump. The American vice-president was in Serbia to encourage it normalise relations with Kosovo, which split from Serbia in 1999 and became independent in 2008.
Biden voiced sympathy for Serbians who died during NATO’s bombing of Serbia in 1999.
After talks with Kosovar President Hashim Thaci in Pristina, Biden traveled south and dedicated a road to his son Beau, who died of brain cancer a year ago.
Seselj criticised Biden for encouraging the 1990s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation bombing and said Trump on the other hand was a “friend of the Serbian people”.
In December 2015, Donald Trump said he extended an apology to the people of Serbia for the bombing of Belgrade during the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military operation against Yugoslavia in the Kosovo War.
Biden’s visit underscores Washington’s desire to maintain influence in the Balkans as Moscow works to keep Serbia one of Russia’s last remaining allies in the region within its fold.
After visiting Belgrade, Biden flew to Pristina, capital of the Kosovo and Metohija province, where he will on Wednesday meet leaders of the region.
As Biden visited Belgrade, some 300 ultra-nationalists protested his presence by wearing T-shirts displaying Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump and chanting “Vote for Trump!”
His trip also highlighted Washington’s concern about the slow pace of regional reconciliation 17 years after the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation airstrikes and 21 years after the Dayton peace deal for Bosnia that left it as a set of regional “entities”.
Biden said in Belgrade that Serbia, being the most populous nation in Western Balkans, is crucial for peace in the region.
“Only a spark is needed for chaos”, he said.
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The trip also highlights Washington’s worry about the slow pace of regional reconciliation 17 years after a USA -led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air war stopped a Serbian crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists and 21 years after a Bosnia peace deal was signed.
