Kosovo declares independence

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia yesterday, ending a long chapter in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.

Serbia responded immediately by calling its mainly Albanian breakaway province a false state and condemning the US for supporting it.

The proclamation was made by leaders of Kosovo's 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, including former guerrillas who fought for independence in a 1998-99 war which claimed about 10,000 civilian lives.

"We, the leaders of our people, democratically elected, through this declaration proclaim Kosovo an independent and sovereign state," said the text read out in parliament by Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.

All 109 deputies present at the session in the capital Pristina voted in favor with a show of hands. Eleven deputies from ethnic minorities, including Serbs, were absent. Kosovo is "an independent, sovereign and democratic state", parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi announced after the vote.

Jubilant Kosovans in the snow-covered city had begun celebrating the night before in advance.

But in Belgrade, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica branded the southern region "a false state" in a televized address to his nation just minutes after the vote in Pristina.

He said Kosovo was propped up unlawfully by the US which was "ready to violate the international order for its own military interests".

Serbs vow never to give up the territory, in which their history goes back 1,000 years, but which has been a ward of the United Nations for nearly nine years. They can do little to stop it, but their one big-power ally Russia stood by them.

Russia said it was calling for UN Security Council consultations over the independence declaration. The West supports the demand of Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians for their own state.

Kosovo will be the sixth state carved from the former Serbian-dominated Yugoslav federation since 1991, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro.

It will be the world's 193rd independent country but Serbia says it will never win a seat at the United Nations.

The US and most EU members are expected to quickly recognize Kosovo, despite failing to win UN Security Council approval - blocked by Russia last year. The EU will also send a supervisory mission to take over from the current UN authorities.

Agencies

(China Daily 02/18/2008 page6)