Former Congressman Joe DioGuardi presents the second annual Albanian American Civic League Balkan Peace Award to Senator Joseph Biden.
ALBANIAN
AMERICAN CIVIC LEAGUE GIVES 2ND ANNUAL BALKAN PEACE AWARD TO SENATOR
JOSEPH BIDEN
NEXHAT DACI,
SPEAKER OF THE KOSOVA PARLIAMENT,
IS
HONORED GUEST
Former Congressman Joe DioGuardi presents the second annual Albanian American Civic League Balkan Peace
Award to Senator Joseph Biden.
At a dinner at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC, on June 18, the Albanian American Civic League gave Senator Joseph Biden the lobby’s second annual Balkan Peace Award, in recognition of his continuing efforts to bring a just and lasting peace to Southeast Europe, especially to the Albanians of Kosova and Macedonia. (The first award was given in 2001 to General Wesley K. Clark.) Former Congressman Joe DioGuardi, Balkan Affairs Adviser Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi, and members of the Board of the Albanian American Civic League presented a large hand-carved alabaster eagle on a cherry wood base and plaque to Senator Biden in the presence of Nexhat Daci, Speaker of the Kosova Assembly, and Congressman Ben Gilman. The award is dated July 2, 2002, in recognition of the day in 1990 when Kosova declared its independence from Serbia.
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Albanian American Civic League Balkan Peace Award, July 2, 2002, Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. |
In making his presentation to Senator Biden, AACL President Joe DioGuardi emphasized the important work that the senator has accomplished as a member and now chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee since February 21, 1991, when he and Senator Claiborne Pell Biden cochaired the first Senate Hearing on the impending dissolution of the former Yugoslavia and the Albanian dimension of the Balkan conflict. As DioGuardi pointed out, Senator Biden went on to become one of strongest and earliest opponents of Slobodan Milosevic and one of the staunchest supporters of continuing U.S. involvement in the Balkans. In accepting the award, Senator Biden praised the work of the Civic League, noting particularly that Joe DioGuardi had acted as a “beacon of light” in the dark days of the State Department’s complacency in the face of Milosevic’s genocidal warfare in Bosnia and Kosova. With Speaker Daci at his side, Biden praised the government of Kosova for its demonstrated commitment to democracy, rule of law, and respect for human rights. In a passionate speech, he urged Speaker Daci to continue on this path and to be patient in the face of those who would undermine the commitment of the United States and the United Nations to integrate Kosova into Europe.
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The dinner capped a day of intensive lobbying by the Civic League on Capitol Hill with Speaker Daci, who had asked DioGuardi and Cloyes during their recent visit to Prishtina to arrange meetings with Senator Biden and Congressmen Gilman, Hyde, and Lantos. Daci informed these Congressional leaders about the tremendous progress that Kosova has made in its economic and political reconstruction since the end of the war in 1999, charaterizing Kosova as “America’s first success story in Europe since World War II.” He underscored the importance of maintaining U.S. leadership in the Balkans in the face
of Western Europe’s lack of resolve on the issue of Kosova’s final status. And he especially urged Congressional leaders to act now to end the de facto partition of Mitrovice, citing the establishment of parallel structures by the Serbian majority in the North and Belgrade’s interference in Kosova’s affairs as the greatest obstacles to peace and stability in the region. Finally, Daci stressed that all Albanians and all minority groups in Kosova, except the Serbs, support the independence of Kosova, and he commended the Civic League’s persistent work in Washington to gain official recognition for independence.
