http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle3385228.ece

 

Kosovo declares itself an independent nation

 

Catherine Philp in Pristina

 

Kosovo declared itself a nation today, defying its traditional overlord Serbia in a bid to become an independent and democratic state backed by the US and much of Europe.

 

?Kosovo is a republic - an independent, democratic and sovereign state,? said Jakup Krasniqi, the Speaker of the Kosovan Parliament, making the declaration at the climax of an emergency session. The chamber burst into applause.

 

Across the capital, Pristina, revelers fired guns into the air, waved red and black Albanian flags and honked car horns in jubilation at the birth of the world?s newest country.

 

The city was already in carnival mode as revellers poured into the snowy streets from early this morning waving red and black flags in the bright sunshine. The free beer had already begun to flow even before the Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, announced the special parliamentary session convening at 3pm local time to declare Kosovo a nation.

 

"Kosovo citizens today await an independent, sovereign and democratic country, a state for all with equal rights," Mr. Thaci declared. "It is time to take the decision to make Kosovo a member of the community of free nations."

 

Kosovo Albanians had known for over a week that today would be the day of their formal liberation from Serbian rule, and the celebrations began days ago.

 

Car horns honked late into the night on Saturday as revellers toured the city packed into cars, leaning out to wave their Albanian flags along with the Stars and Stripes of their American allies.

 

Despite the late night, organisers were up early to set up the music stages and beer stands along Mother Theresa Street, the pedestrianised boulevard running through the city centre right up the parliament where the historic vote was to take place.

 

Staff at Fellini's, a smart Pristina bakery, had been in overdrive to finish the icing on a 30-metre long birthday cake for the new nation, and began laying it out on tables this morning, slapping away tiny fingers as they dipped into the frosting.

 

Several young boys also managed to get their hands on the free beer being handed out in plastic cups at stalls laid on by the Peja brewery, known by its Serbian name, Pec, in the days of Belgrade's rule.

 

Ethnic Albanians poured in from all over Kosovo ? and beyond - to join in the party. Friday's flight from London was packed with members of the Kosovan disapora who had forked out over ?700 a piece for their tickets, nearly four times the usual fare.

 

Fatmir Dauti is a Macedonian Albanian, and has no connection to Kosovo but his common ethnicity with the ethnic Albanian majority here, but came anyway to join in the party. "I did not want to come, my heart wanted to come," he said. "We are Albanians and we are brothers."

 

Kadir Ibrahim had travelled in a convoy of seven minibuses from his village, Vuqitern, 30 miles outside Pristina, to celebrate with the crowds. "We've been waiting for this day for centuries," he said.

 

What would be new tomorrow, after independence was declared? "We will be free," he replied.

 

Even amid the rejoicing, there was still room for ancient hatreds towards their despised Serbian overlords and for Russia, and its ongoing attempts to block Kosovo's independence becoming a reality. "Russia go to rehab!" one bar owner scrawled on his blackboard in place of a menu. Schoolchildren drawing on a metres-long banner in the street were more direct. "F*** Serbia and Russia," they wrote.

 

One local newspaper, Express, reserved its front page for pictures of Tito, Milosevic and Nicola Pasic, with the simple headline "F*** U." Another, Koha Ditore, was more forgiving. "Today, a new life begins. The past should not be forgotten, but it belongs to the past, and should be forgiven," it wrote.

 

The jubilation in Pristina was starkly contrasted with the atmosphere in northern Mitrovica, the main Serb enclave in Kosovo, where gloom mingled with defiance. The Serb Orthodox Church of Kosovo issued a statement calling for the Serbian army to come to the rescue, armed by Russia, and defend Kosovo from "occupation" by the European Union troops - among them, 600 British soldiers from 1st Battalion, the Welsh Guards - preparing to take over from the UN here.

 

The red, blue and white flag of Serbia, adorned with a white double-headed eagle, fluttered defiantly over the rooftops of northern Mitrovica, facing off against the sea of red Albanian standards on the other side of the Ibar river.

 

At the declaration of independence this afternoon, a new flag for Kosovo, will be unveiled. No-one is very hopeful that it will catch on. "This is the flag we fought and died under," Selvet Murati, a former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla at the festivities said. "They can stick that new one over all the official buildings they like, but this will always be our flag."

 

Kosovo has been under UN administration since the 1999 Nato bombing campaign drove out Serbian troops. While Serbia?s formal sovereignty is internationally recognised, Belgrade has little or no practical involvement in the governance of the province.

 

Kosovo?s prime minister claims that about 100 countries are ready to recognise the province?s independence as soon as it is declared. The US is expected to recognise an independent Kosovo early next week.

 

But it will be opposed by Russia, Serbia?s traditional ally, and by Spain, Romania and Greece. Moscow?s veto at the UN Security Council, which meets in New York on Tuesday, stands in the way of general international acceptance of the new state for the foreseeable future.

 

The EU is send a 1,800-strong mission to help Kosovo?s leadership with security, legal and customs issues after the breakaway from Serbia, including about 60 British police officers and judicial experts.

 

The EU?s decision today to send the mission was denounced as ?shameful? by Belgrade, which has threatened sanctions against the new nation.

 

Slobodan Samardzic, a Serb Cabinet minister, insisted that Kosovo - regarded by Serbs as the historic heartland of their nation - remained ?an inalienable part of Serbia?.

 

They don't call it the "Balkans" for nothing. As of now, there is already heated argument in the UN Security Council about this. I don't see a smooth transition, in any case. :whistle

Good for Kosovo.

Oh joy.

 

Seeing as how Russia wants to be a major player again, I'm sure they'll fan the flames.

And how much is this going to cost the US?

Well, the European Union has sent peacekeepers to support the independence process, so this isn't going to end well if Russia is insistent on preventing this from happening.

 

From what I've heard, Russia intends to recognize the breakaway republics in Georgia (Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both of which are semi-autonomous areas currently), and has already invoked Turkish North Cyprus (a puppet state set up by Turkey in Cyprus) and Basque Country (whose "independence movement" is really a source of terrorism in Spain).

 

Considering their treatment of Chechnya, Russia isn't exactly an authority on dealing with areas seeking independence.