Thaci elected Kosovo PM; vows independence in weeks
(Updates with U.N. governor)
By Shaban Buza and Fatos Bytyci
PRISTINA, Serbia, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Ethnic Albanian former guerrilla Hashim Thaci was elected prime minister of Kosovo on Wednesday and vowed the breakaway province would declare independence from Serbia within weeks.
Fuelling speculation that Kosovo might strike out alone in February or March, Thaci told reporters: "I assure you that within a few weeks we will declare independence."
"Kosovo's independence is a done deal. We just need to declare it," he said, after parliament voted to endorse a "grand coalition" of Kosovo's two dominant parties.
Kosovo's 2 million Albanians -- the 90-percent majority -- are counting on the major Western powers to overrule opposition from Serbia and Russia and recognise the territory as the last state to be carved from the former Yugoslavia.
The 27-member European Union is striving for unity on statehood, and plans to deploy a police and justice mission to take over from the United Nations, which has run Kosovo since NATO drove out Serb forces in 1999.
The West wants Kosovo to wait until after a presidential election in Serbia on Jan. 20, pitting pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic against an ultranationalist in a closely-fought race likely to run to a second round on Feb. 3.
Thaci, who led a 1998-99 guerrilla insurgency to end a decade of Serb repression under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, told the packed assembly that Kosovo was at "an historic crossroads".
UNREST
"We are preparing to make Kosovo an independent and sovereign state early this year," he said. "We will turn our dream, and our right, into a reality."
Thaci said Kosovo would coordinate its next steps with the EU and the United States, which backs independence. He spoke briefly in Serbian, in a gesture designed to sooth the fears of Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs, who reject independence.
The 120-seat parliament voted 85-22 to approve the coalition, which holds 62 seats. It also returned LDK leader Fatmir Sejdiu as Kosovo's president, a largely ceremonial post.
Thaci's Democratic Party emerged from the guerrilla army that battled Serb forces, eclipsing the LDK's policy of passive resistance under its late leader Ibrahim Rugova.
Western diplomats hope a broad coalition of the two parties will steer Kosovo through what promises to be a turbulent transition to statehood after Russia blocked its secession at the U.N. Security Council.
"The next steps require continued close cooperation with the international community, they require a very high degree of responsibility," the chief U.N. administrator in Kosovo, Joachim Ruecker of Germany, told parliament.
Serb forces pulled out of Kosovo in 1999 after 11 weeks of NATO bombing to halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanians in a two-year Serb counter-insurgency war.
The United Nations and a NATO peace force took over.
Almost two years of Serb-Albanian negotiations to decide Kosovo's fate ended last month in failure. Serbia is telling the Serb minority to reject a unilateral secession, raising fears of a breakaway bid by the Serb north of the province. (Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Giles Elgood)
By Shaban Buza and Fatos Bytyci
PRISTINA, Serbia, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Ethnic Albanian former guerrilla Hashim Thaci was elected prime minister of Kosovo on Wednesday and vowed the breakaway province would declare independence from Serbia within weeks.
Fuelling speculation that Kosovo might strike out alone in February or March, Thaci told reporters: "I assure you that within a few weeks we will declare independence."
"Kosovo's independence is a done deal. We just need to declare it," he said, after parliament voted to endorse a "grand coalition" of Kosovo's two dominant parties.
Kosovo's 2 million Albanians -- the 90-percent majority -- are counting on the major Western powers to overrule opposition from Serbia and Russia and recognise the territory as the last state to be carved from the former Yugoslavia.
The 27-member European Union is striving for unity on statehood, and plans to deploy a police and justice mission to take over from the United Nations, which has run Kosovo since NATO drove out Serb forces in 1999.
The West wants Kosovo to wait until after a presidential election in Serbia on Jan. 20, pitting pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic against an ultranationalist in a closely-fought race likely to run to a second round on Feb. 3.
Thaci, who led a 1998-99 guerrilla insurgency to end a decade of Serb repression under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, told the packed assembly that Kosovo was at "an historic crossroads".
UNREST
"We are preparing to make Kosovo an independent and sovereign state early this year," he said. "We will turn our dream, and our right, into a reality."
Thaci said Kosovo would coordinate its next steps with the EU and the United States, which backs independence. He spoke briefly in Serbian, in a gesture designed to sooth the fears of Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs, who reject independence.
The 120-seat parliament voted 85-22 to approve the coalition, which holds 62 seats. It also returned LDK leader Fatmir Sejdiu as Kosovo's president, a largely ceremonial post.
Thaci's Democratic Party emerged from the guerrilla army that battled Serb forces, eclipsing the LDK's policy of passive resistance under its late leader Ibrahim Rugova.
Western diplomats hope a broad coalition of the two parties will steer Kosovo through what promises to be a turbulent transition to statehood after Russia blocked its secession at the U.N. Security Council.
"The next steps require continued close cooperation with the international community, they require a very high degree of responsibility," the chief U.N. administrator in Kosovo, Joachim Ruecker of Germany, told parliament.
Serb forces pulled out of Kosovo in 1999 after 11 weeks of NATO bombing to halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanians in a two-year Serb counter-insurgency war.
The United Nations and a NATO peace force took over.
Almost two years of Serb-Albanian negotiations to decide Kosovo's fate ended last month in failure. Serbia is telling the Serb minority to reject a unilateral secession, raising fears of a breakaway bid by the Serb north of the province. (Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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