Kosovo declares independence

Kosovo's long-awaited declaration of independence triggered swift and furious responses from Moscow to Belgrade, launching a standoff that many politicians worry could end in destabilization in the Balkans and beyond.

Ethnic Albanians celebrated across the territory -- a Serbian province for centuries -- after the unilateral declaration was signed on parchment in Kosovo's parliament yesterday. More than 90% of Kosovo's population of two million are ethnic Albanian and have been living under United Nations rule since a U.S.-led bombing campaign by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization drove Serbian military forces from the province in 1999.

"Kosovo is a republic -- an independent, democratic and sovereign state," parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi said after a unanimous vote to approve the document. Kosovo's 10 minority Serb lawmakers boycotted the session in protest.

Within hours, Russia called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council for later on Sunday and said it would ask it to declare Kosovo's claim to independence "null and void" -- a request that was unlikely to succeed as the U.S., France and Britain all have vetoes in the Security Council and support Kosovo's independence bid.

Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement that it would back Serbia's efforts to restore its territorial integrity, warning the move risks "a new conflict in the Balkans." The statement warned countries that recognize Kosovo as a country that they would be "supporting separatism" across the globe.

In an early sign of potential fallout, the ex-Soviet Republic of Georgia's two Russian-backed separatist territories, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, said they would ask Moscow to recognize their claims of independence, Russian news agency Interfax reported. Russia is not expected to comply immediately.

In Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, several hundred youths attacked a McDonalds restaurant and the U.S. embassy, as well as the EU's mission in protest at Western support for Kosovo's independence bid.

Serbia's nationalist prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica blasted the U.S. for backing Kosovo's independence bid, saying President George W. Bush and his European supporters would go down "in black letters" in Serbian history. "Today, on February 17, the fake state of Kosovo was illegally proclaimed on [Serbia's] territory under the control of NATO. This was an act of legal violence," Mr. Kostunica said on national television. "The United States puts force above law and showed that they were ready to break international laws for their own interests."

Mr. Bush said on a visit to Africa that the U.S. "will continue to work with our allies to the very best we can to make sure there's no violence." He praised the Kosovo Albanians' pledge to protect the rights of ethnic Serbs in the new state. "The Serbian people can know that they have a friend in America," he said.

Mr. Krasniqi and Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and President Fatmir Sejdiu signed the independence proclamation before the unveiling of a national crest and a flag: a blue banner featuring a golden map of Kosovo and six stars, one for each of its main ethnic groups.

The declaration was carefully orchestrated with the U.S. and important European powers. International recognition could begin to come as early as today, when European Union foreign ministers meet in Brussels. More than 20 of the EU's 27 governments are expected to recognize Kosovo quickly, as is the U.S. Once nations begin to recognize Kosovo, it will have a quasi-state status, unable to join the U.N. due to Russian opposition but accepted by a number of countries.

"Kosovo will never be ruled by Belgrade again," said Mr. Thaci, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which battled Serbian troops in a 1998-99 separatist war that claimed 10,000 lives. Mr. Thaci pledged that Kosovo would be "a democratic, multiethnic state."

The move in some ways will change little. About 16,000 NATO-led peacekeeping troops will remain in Kosovo to provide security, while EU administrators backed by some 2,000 police and judicial personnel will take over many of the functions the U.N. has performed since 1999, though in a more advisory role.

For Serbs and Albanians alike, however, yesterday's bid for "supervised" independence under a Western-brokered plan is a historic step. The move takes from Serbia territory it has held for centuries and with it some of the Serbian Orthodox Christian Church's most hallowed churches. Most ethnic Albanians in Kosovo are Muslim.

NATO troops stepped up patrols in the mainly Serb enclave around Mitrovitsa, in Northern Kosovo yesterday. A bridge connecting the Serb and Albanian parts of Mitrovitsa is divided by barbed wire and cement blocks. A hand grenade exploded against the wall of a U.N. court in the town, but no one was hurt.

Serbs in the area have said they will continue to consider the territory part of Serbia, setting the scene for de facto separation and potential violence. More than half the roughly 130,000 ethnic Serbs still living in Kosovo are scattered across the territory, with the rest concentrated in the North, near Mitrovitsa.

Serbian officials have said they won't respond with force. But they could cut off trade and electricity to Kosovo and have said they will downgrade relations with countries that recognize Kosovo.

Germany was among nations yesterday that called for all sides to remain calm.