KOSOVO: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visits a 14th century Orthodox Christian monastery in Decani

Record ID: 569138

  • Title: KOSOVO: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visits a 14th century Orthodox Christian monastery in Decani
  • Date: 22nd May 2009
  • Summary: DECANI, KOSOVO (MAY 21, 2009) (REUTERS) DECANI MONASTERY DOME OF DECANI MONASTERY VARIOUS OF MOTORCADE ARRIVING AT DECANI MONASTERY MOTORCADE ARRIVING IN MONASTERY YARD FATHER SAVA AND JOSEPH BIDEN, US VICE PRESIDENT, WALKING TOWARDS THE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) US VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN SAYING: "At the time when there was a great deal of carnage, father and
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2009 13:00
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  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4LOBYIOG05HRLGYHS9HLIGFDW
  • Story Text: After a tumultuous welcome in Kosovo's capital Pristina, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited the 14th century Orthodox Christian monastery Decani on Thursday (May 21) cherished by Serbs as the focal point of their medieval civilization.
    Amid tight security, Biden arrived at the monastery which is also on the UNESCO World Heritage list, to highlight U.S support to the ethnic Serb minority. As many as 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians have fled Kosovo since the end of the 1999 war.
    Biden's visit to the monastery was aimed at highlighting American support for the rights of the ethnic Serb minority. The monastery is considered one of the jewels of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
    In a statement, the Orthodox Church leaders in Kosovo with jurisdiction over Decani criticised Biden's visit.
    "The U.S. vice president is visiting Kosovo as an independent state, to confirm the forceful secession of Serbia's territory and its handover to Albanian terrorists who were not punished for numerous crimes against Serbian people, Serbian property and Serbian cultural and religious heritage...Does Joseph Biden want to confirm with his gesture that Decani is an American base in Kosovo, the same as camp Bondsteel?" the statement asked, referring to a military base Biden was also to visit on Thursday.
    Biden who visited the monastery after the end of hostilities in 1999 was greeted by the headmaster Father Sava on Thursday.
    Biden said he was glad to be at the place, which during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war, offered refuge to many civilians of all nations and confessions.
    "At the time when there was a great deal of carnage, father and his brothers allowed refuge there for anyone and it is a spirit that I hope on in a coming decades becomes characteristic of all of this area of the country, all this area in the whole, we have a great opportunity father and you helped started to change the dynamic in this region of the world and to make sure that all the Balkans in the first time in the history become part of the whole ,free integrated Europe, and that's my hope I am delighted to be back, it's such magificent, magnificent spot," Biden said.
    His visit to Kosovo comes at the end of his three-day tour of the Balkans.
    Kosovo, where more than 90 percent of its two million population are ethnic Albanians, declared independence last year. But Serbia which believes Kosovo is still an integral part is suing in an international court, claiming they had no right to do so.
    International troops still patrol the area, including around 1,400 from the United States. Over the past decade the international community has given billions of dollars in aid to landlocked Kosovo, the Balkans' smallest geographic country.
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