Kosovo Albanians prepare to break away from Serbia
(Edits; adds Serb bishop)
By Matt Robinson
PRISTINA, Serbia, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Kosovo Albanians prepared to declare independence from Serbia on Sunday at a special session of parliament that will end a long chapter in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.
"Kosovo citizens today await an independent, sovereign and democratic country, a state for all with equal rights," Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told Reuters before summoning the assembly in the capital Pristina.
"It is time to take the decision to make Kosovo a member of the community of free nations," he said.
The session was due to start at 3.00 p.m. (1400 GMT). Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica scheduled a televised address to the Serbian people at 4.00 p.m. (1500 GMT).
Backed by Russia, Serbs vow never to give up a territory in which their history goes back 1,000 years. But the West supports the demand of Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians for their own state, nine years after NATO went to war to save them from Serbian forces.
Kosovo will be the sixth state carved from the former Serbian-dominated Yugoslav federation since 1991, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
Serbs in the north of Kosovo, adjoining Serbia proper, will reject independence, cementing an ethnic partition that will weigh on the new state for years to come. Fewer than half of Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs live in the north, while the rest are in scattered enclaves protected by NATO peacekeepers.
Thaci sought to reassure them, saying "Kosovo is the homeland of all its citizens." He said Kosovo was committed to a Western-backed plan for independence, supervised by the European Union and providing guarantees for the Serb minority.
The EU, which on Saturday endorsed a rule-of-law mission to Kosovo, will meet on Monday to discuss the territory's secession after years of economic and political limbo as a ward of the United Nations.
The United States and most EU members are expected to quickly recognise Kosovo, despite failing to win a new U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning the move. Russia blocked its adoption last year.
NEW LIFE
President George W. Bush said the United States, which has 1,700 troops in Kosovo's NATO-led force of 16,000, was determined to keep the peace.
"The United States will continue to work with our allies to do the very best we can to make sure there's no violence," he said during a visit to Tanzania.
French peacekeepers stepped up security in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica, preparing concrete and razor-wire barriers to keep Serbs and Albanians apart. Small groups of Serbs gathered at the bridge between the Serb north of the town and the Albanian south.
Snow blanketed Kosovo's capital Pristina after a night of early celebration with thousands of Albanians pouring into the streets ahead of schedule. Banners proclaimed "Happy Independence".
"Today, a new life begins. The past should not be forgotten, but it belongs to the past, and should be forgiven," the Kosovo daily Koha Ditore wrote.
"This is the happiest day," said Tahir Bajrami, an elderly Kosovo Albanian who flew from New York to join the celebrations. "We were prisoners, but this marks a new beginning."
Ten years ago, Serbian forces were fighting an Albanian guerrilla uprising, killing civilians who got in the way.
Determined to end a decade of humiliation from Belgrade under the late autocrat Slobodan Milosevic, the Albanians fought on until the West, unwilling to sit powerless after other Balkan bloodbaths, bombed Serbia into submission in 1999.
Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo and the United Nations took over. The European Union will deploy 2,000 police, judges and civil administrators over a 4-month transition from the U.N.
Serbia says the mission is illegitimate. It has promised reprisals against the new state and its backers, but kept them secret. Analysts believe any trade, diplomatic or bureaucratic blockade will be relatively short-lived.
The head of the Serb Orthodox Church in Kosovo said Serbia should rally its forces, declare Kosovo "occupied territory" and "buy state of the art weapons from Russia", the Serbian daily Glas Javnosti reported. (Additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci, Shaban Buza, Deborah Charles; editing by Andrew Roche)
By Matt Robinson
PRISTINA, Serbia, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Kosovo Albanians prepared to declare independence from Serbia on Sunday at a special session of parliament that will end a long chapter in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.
"Kosovo citizens today await an independent, sovereign and democratic country, a state for all with equal rights," Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told Reuters before summoning the assembly in the capital Pristina.
"It is time to take the decision to make Kosovo a member of the community of free nations," he said.
The session was due to start at 3.00 p.m. (1400 GMT). Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica scheduled a televised address to the Serbian people at 4.00 p.m. (1500 GMT).
Backed by Russia, Serbs vow never to give up a territory in which their history goes back 1,000 years. But the West supports the demand of Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians for their own state, nine years after NATO went to war to save them from Serbian forces.
Kosovo will be the sixth state carved from the former Serbian-dominated Yugoslav federation since 1991, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro.
Serbs in the north of Kosovo, adjoining Serbia proper, will reject independence, cementing an ethnic partition that will weigh on the new state for years to come. Fewer than half of Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs live in the north, while the rest are in scattered enclaves protected by NATO peacekeepers.
Thaci sought to reassure them, saying "Kosovo is the homeland of all its citizens." He said Kosovo was committed to a Western-backed plan for independence, supervised by the European Union and providing guarantees for the Serb minority.
The EU, which on Saturday endorsed a rule-of-law mission to Kosovo, will meet on Monday to discuss the territory's secession after years of economic and political limbo as a ward of the United Nations.
The United States and most EU members are expected to quickly recognise Kosovo, despite failing to win a new U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning the move. Russia blocked its adoption last year.
NEW LIFE
President George W. Bush said the United States, which has 1,700 troops in Kosovo's NATO-led force of 16,000, was determined to keep the peace.
"The United States will continue to work with our allies to do the very best we can to make sure there's no violence," he said during a visit to Tanzania.
French peacekeepers stepped up security in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica, preparing concrete and razor-wire barriers to keep Serbs and Albanians apart. Small groups of Serbs gathered at the bridge between the Serb north of the town and the Albanian south.
Snow blanketed Kosovo's capital Pristina after a night of early celebration with thousands of Albanians pouring into the streets ahead of schedule. Banners proclaimed "Happy Independence".
"Today, a new life begins. The past should not be forgotten, but it belongs to the past, and should be forgiven," the Kosovo daily Koha Ditore wrote.
"This is the happiest day," said Tahir Bajrami, an elderly Kosovo Albanian who flew from New York to join the celebrations. "We were prisoners, but this marks a new beginning."
Ten years ago, Serbian forces were fighting an Albanian guerrilla uprising, killing civilians who got in the way.
Determined to end a decade of humiliation from Belgrade under the late autocrat Slobodan Milosevic, the Albanians fought on until the West, unwilling to sit powerless after other Balkan bloodbaths, bombed Serbia into submission in 1999.
Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo and the United Nations took over. The European Union will deploy 2,000 police, judges and civil administrators over a 4-month transition from the U.N.
Serbia says the mission is illegitimate. It has promised reprisals against the new state and its backers, but kept them secret. Analysts believe any trade, diplomatic or bureaucratic blockade will be relatively short-lived.
The head of the Serb Orthodox Church in Kosovo said Serbia should rally its forces, declare Kosovo "occupied territory" and "buy state of the art weapons from Russia", the Serbian daily Glas Javnosti reported. (Additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci, Shaban Buza, Deborah Charles; editing by Andrew Roche)
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
Urumqi death toll 'could rise'
