Biden warns Bosnia against 'falling back'

May 20, 2009, 7:57 GMT

Sarajevo - US Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday warned Bosnian leaders to seek a path leading the country to European integration, instead of retreading the path of violence of their past.

Speaking to Bosnian legislators, Biden expressed concern over the resurging nationalism in the country which already went through a devastating war fought along ethnic lines between its main communities - Muslim, Serb and Croat.

The war ended with the US-brokered peace agreement 14 years ago, but ethnic divisions remained and have paralyzed the country's progress toward European Union and NATO membership.

'This must stop. The only future is to join Europe,' Biden said. 'You can follow this path to Europe or you can take an alternative path - you've done it before.' He said Bosnia's alternatives are 'the future of integration' or 'falling back' to the past.

Biden, who embarked a mini-tour of the Balkans with the Bosnian visit, pledged US assistance in the nation's effort to move forward. 'The door is open for this region, for the first time in history, to be an integral part of a free Europe. The US will help you through that door,' he said.

He arrived in Sarajevo surprisingly early Tuesday and was later joined by the EU foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana joined Biden in talks with the Bosnian leaders.

Biden was scheduled to meet Serbian President Boris Tadic and other Serbian leaders Wednesday in Belgrade, before departing for the final stop in the Kosovo capital Pristina.

The tour covers the three most volatile countries in the region. In all three, during the wars of the 1990s, US warplanes bombed Serbs. While acknowledging differences, Biden said in Sarajevo he would seek to open a new chapter of American and Serbian relations.

At the same time, however, he will warn Serbia not to encourage its separatism among its compatriots in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Biden visit aims to assert the US leadership in the region which - after having a massive role in the previous decade - Washington largely neglected while being focused on the Middle East.