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Kosovo freedom date under wraps
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci refused yesterday to confirm a date for Kosovo to declare its independence from Serbia, despite high expectations that it will do so tomorrow.
- Agencies
- Published: 00:32 February 16, 2008
Pristina/Belgrade: Prime Minister Hashim Thaci refused yesterday to confirm a date for Kosovo to declare its independence from Serbia, despite high expectations that it will do so tomorrow.
Asked at a press conference what the date would be, Thaci - who had just finished making a statement about the rights of Kosovo's minority Serbs - replied: "Let's stick to what the press conference is about."
A source in Thaci's office said earlier yesterday that the ethnic Albanian prime minister would confirm a date at the press conference, amid growing signs that it would be tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Boris Tadic was sworn in as president of Serbia yesterday, two days before Kosovo declares independence in Serbia's most traumatic moment since it was bombed by Nato in 1999 to end ethnic-cleansing in the province.
"I will never give up fighting for our Kosovo and I will, with all my might, fight for Serbia to join the European Union," Tadic said after taking the oath of office.
Tomorrow, however, Serbia faces dismemberment with the loss of Kosovo, the mountain-ringed province steeped in Serb myth but now home to 2 million Albanians, a 90 per cent majority. Nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who has eclipsed pro-Western Tadic to become undisputed champion of Serbia's unity, has told Serbs that Kosovo's breakaway is "about to become a reality" that he can't stop but will never accept.
Tadic and Kostunica cannot agree on Serbia continuing to pursue EU membership if EU states approve Kosovo's secession.
Most EU members plus the United States plan to recognise Kosovo, saying Serbia relinquished the moral right to rule its people because of the brutality it used against them in 1998-99 under the late Slobodan Milosevic, and because there is no hope of compromise.
Serbia and its ally Russia insist that the legal rights of sovereignty and territorial integrity are paramount over an ethnic minority's demands for self-determination.
Serbia has offered autonomy to Kosovo Albanians within Serb borders, but no role as full citizens. Belgrade's proposal is for separate lives, a formula the West believes is unsustainable in the long term.
Kosovo has already been under United Nations administration and Nato protection for nearly 9 years. Its leader Hashim Thaci said he can count on recognition by 100 countries.
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