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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Independence for Kosovo

On February 17, 2008, Kosovo officially declared its independence, backed by the European Union and the USA. But Russia and Serbia – not surprisingly - have denounced this decision, as have the Serbs in Kosovo, some of whom threaten secession.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Sunday, February 17, ending a long chapter in the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia. Kosovo will be the sixth state carved from the former Serbian-dominated Yugoslav federation since 1991, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro.

Most European countries – led by France, Germany, the UK and Italy – support Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state. But some European nations, such as Spain and Slovakia, are divided on the subject, fearing it would encourage separatist movements in their own countries. Washington has, for its own part, assured the Kosovars of its support in their quest for independence.

Serbia responded immediately by calling its mainly Albanian breakaway province a false state and condemning the United States for supporting it. 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 called for U.N. Security Council consultations over the independence declaration.

The Kosovar leadership will have to convince the international community of the state’s political stability. It will also have to address the needs of a population experiencing 45 percent unemployment. Kosovars are hopeful about an eventual Donors’ conference that would help them improve their economic situation.

Kosovo proclaims its independence Kosovo's parliament approved the province's independence from Serbia in an extraordinary session on Sunday, thereby ending a long chapter in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

Key dates in recent Kosovar history Almost nine years since NATO went to war to save the province's ethnic Albanian majority from a Serb onslaught, Kosovo is set to declare independence. Here is a chronology of contemporary events in Kosovo.

The last Serbs of Kosovo Since 1999 and the end of the Belgrade's grip on Kosovo, the number of Serbs living in this Albanian region has fallen. The self-declared independence of Kosovo may only reinforce a sense of exclusion for this minority. (Report: G.Ozan)