The Kosovars are now independent

PRISTINA, Kosovo - The United States formally recognized Kosovo's independence Monday, and Europe's major powers said they would do the same, setting up a confrontation with Serbia and its key ally, Russia.

Kosovo's leaders had sent letters to 192 countries Monday seeking formal recognition of independence, and suspense gripped the capital as its citizens awaited backing from the key powers.

But later Monday, President Bush said, “The Kosovars are now independent,” and the United States formally recognized Kosovo's independence in a statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.


"We congratulate the people of Kosovo on this historic occasion," Rice said.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy said those nations also would recognize Kosovo.

"A majority of (European Union) member states will recognise a democratic, multi-ethnic Kosovo founded on the rule of law," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after talks among EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Tension as Serbs protest
A day after Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership made its historic declaration of independence from Serbia, tensions flared in northern Kosovo, home to most of the territory's 100,000 minority Serbs. An explosion damaged a U.N. vehicle outside the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica, where thousands of Serbs demonstrated, chanting "this is Serbia!"

The crowds marched to a bridge spanning a river dividing the town between the ethnic Albanian and Serbian sides. They were confronted by NATO peacekeepers guarding the bridge, but there was no violence.

Another 800 Serbs staged a noisy demonstration in the Serb-dominated enclave of Gracanica outside Pristina, waving Serbian flags and singing patriotic songs.


yesterday," protester Goran Arsic said.

In a first sign that Serbia was attempting to retake authority in the north of Kosovo, some Serb policemen started leaving the multiethnic Kosovo police force on Monday and placed themselves under the authority of the Serbian government in Belgrade, a senior Kosovo Serb police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

There were about 320 Serb policemen in the U.N.-established force. The departure of Serb policemen in the force would likely trigger a confrontation with the U.N. administration.

‘It will be a big day’
President Fatmir Sejdiu played down the fears of renewed unrest, saying the government needed to set about the business of building a democratic country.

"It will be a big day today because we have lots of things that we need to start and finish," Sejdiu said Monday. "We need continuous work and commitment, and we are fully dedicated to fulfilling the promises to better our state."

On Sunday, lawmakers achieved what a bloody 1998-99 separatist war with Serbian forces could not: They pronounced the disputed province the Republic of Kosovo, and pledged to make it a "democratic, multiethnic state."

The proclamation sent thousands of jubilant ethnic Albanians into the streets overnight, where they waved red-and-black Albanian flags, fired guns and fireworks into the air and danced. One couple named their newborn daughter Pavarsie — Albanian for "independence."

Passersby stopped to scribble names and messages on a sculpture spelling out "NEWBORN" in giant iron letters across from the U.N. headquarters in central Pristina.

And the republic's new flag — a blue field featuring a yellow silhouette of Kosovo and six white stars, one for each of the main ethnic groups — fluttered from homes and offices.

"This is the happiest day in my life," said Mehdi Shehu, 68. "Now we're free and we can celebrate without fear."