Statement by Biden On Assassination of Serbian Prime Minister

"As Prime Minister of Serbia, Mr. Djindjic heroically bucked strong opposition and sent Milosevic to The Hague to stand trial for alleged war crimes.

"Mr. Djindjic's death deals a terrible blow to reform in Serbia. Although Mr. Djindjic was himself a nationalist who recently was attempting to re-insert Serbian troops into Kosovo and perhaps engineer a partition of the province -- moves which I was set to oppose -- he nonetheless had embarked upon a program of reforms with the goal of integrating Serbia into the democratic West.

"I understand Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic has been named Acting Prime Minister. It is unclear whether new elections will be held in the near future. What is certain, however, is that democratic reform in Serbia and Montenegro has been dealt a serious blow, and that the process of stabilization and democratization in Kosovo, and even in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been made more difficult.

"U.S. policy should be to continue support for what remains of the democratic reformers in Serbia. In particular, we should call for an acceleration -- not a slow-down - in delivering indicted individuals to the Hague Tribunal."