Excitement as Kosovo independence confirmed for Sunday

PRISTINA, Serbia, 16 February 2008 - Kosovo will declare independence on Sunday amid growing excitement among its ethnic Albanians, anger from its Serbs, and the launch of an EU mission to ease the birth of the world's newest state.

"Tomorrow will be a day of calm, of understanding and of state engagements for the implementation of the will of the citizens of Kosovo," Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said Saturday in reference to the breakaway ethnic Albanian majority.

Expectations of a Sunday declaration of independence have been running high for several days -- but Thaci's comments marked the first top-level confirmation that the long-awaited break with Serbia would come this weekend.

Within an hour of Thaci speaking, convoys of vehicles zipped through the streets of Pristina, cheerfully honking their horns and waving Albanian, British, German, NATO and US flags.

Talking to reporters after a meeting with religious leaders, Thaci appealed for celebrations to unfold with "dignity ... on the day of the declaration of independence, on the big day, on the historic day ... a day of thanksgiving for a sovereign and independent Kosovo."

Serbia, which sees Kosovo as the cradle of Serb culture and religion, and Russia, Belgrade's main ally on the world stage, has vowed never to recognize an independent Kosovo.

Independence is expected to be declared at around 3:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday to the strains of "Ode to Joy," the anthem of the European Union, according to local news media. Street parties and fireworks would follow.

"Everything is pointing to Sunday," a source close to Thaci's government told AFP, amid expectations in Pristina that Washington, London, Paris and other Western capitals will recognize the new nation from Monday. Kosovo's public broadcaster RTK said it would air a live interview with Thaci at 8:30 pm (1930 GMT) Saturday. The European Union launched earlier Saturday a 2,000-member police and judicial mission to help facilitate Kosovo's transition to independence -- even as the bloc's 27 members remain split on how to recognize the new state.

In the days after independence is declared, the EULEX Kosovo mission will begin a 120-day countdown to taking over policing duties from a United Nations mission, which will up stakes and leave.

In the divided northern city of Kosovoska Mitrovica, a potential flashpoint for violence on Sunday, Kosovo Serb leader Milan Ivanovic rejected the EU mission, vowing it would be boycotted by his people.

"The EU mission is not welcome. We will boycott it and use all methods of civic resistance," Ivanovic said. Serbs make up 120,000 of Kosovo's 1.8 million people and they want to stay part of Serbia.

In the wintery streets of Pristina, many shopkeepers Saturday festooned their windows with the Albanian flag -- a black eagle on a red background -- sometimes alongside banners boasting 50-percent-off sales.

Colourful posters expressed thanks to the United States, Britain and the European Union for supporting independence. Street stalls added "Proud to be Kosovar" T-shirts to their usual inventory of cigarettes and mobile phones.

"There's going to be euphoria," said Flutra Limani, 24, who waits tables at a trendy Pristina bar. "Everyone is talking about this."

Thaci's government has reportedly ordered 80 tonnes of fireworks from Bulgaria for the occasion, while a trendy bakery called Fellini's is baking a jumbo jumbo Kosovo-shaped independence cake.

EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday to try to draw up a "common platform" in response to Kosovo's expected independence, one which does not include the notion of the bloc as a whole recognising the new state.

EU leaders committed in December to help with a settlement on Kosovo's final status, including economic and political assistance and by offering Kosovo the prospect of EU membership some time in the distant future.

But some countries will refuse, at least in the short term, to recognise the new state, including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.

Opponents to independence fear it could serve as a precedent for other separatist groups in Europe, as well as undermine Balkan security which remains fragile after the violent breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

In Belgrade on Saturday, more than 1,000 Serb nationalists -- chanting "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia" and waving the Serbian tricolour flag -- protested against Western support for Kosovo's independence.

Source: AFP

Home | Contact us | Links | Archives | Search