Fri, May 22, 2009
PRISTINA, Kosovo – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has arrived in Kosovo to boost the new country's statehood in the face of strong opposition from Serbia.
Biden's visit on Thursday is the first by a senior American official since Kosovo declared independence last year.
Thousands of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians welcomed Biden along the road from the main airport to the capital of Pristina. Ethnic Albanians are staunch supporters of the United States because it led the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 which ended the ethnic war in Kosovo.
Sixty countries have recognized Kosovo's independence. Serbia has vowed never to accept its former province as independent, a stance backed by Russia.
Biden's three-day tour aims to show renewed U.S. interest in the Balkans, which was riven by bloody ethnic wars in the 1990s.
(Agencies)
