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Kosovo to declare independence on Sunday |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 16 February 2008 |
It is one of the rarest of political events; the birth of a new country. In just a few hours that is what is being confidently awaited in Kosovo by its ethnic Albanian majority, and with trepidation by its Serb minority.
Posters thanking the EU and America for backing Kosovan aspirations to statehood appeared overnight in the capital, Pristina, and party preparations are underway in the streets for the expected official announcement tomorrow.
However in a deal signed late Friday night the EU will now take over policing and the justice and local government systems from the UN, which has been running the Serb province for the last nine years.
Russia opposes independence for Kosovo, and says the EU police force violates a UN resolution on Kosovo's future.
Security on alert as Kosovo awaits independence NATO troops in Kosovo are planning for trouble, while appealing for calm at the same time.
Security is high, the soldiers well aware that Kosovo's Serb population is scared, and that some of them want to secede from the fledgling state and rejoin Serbia itself.
General Xavier Bout de Marnhac says his men will handle any unrest:
"KFOR will react to any kind of provocation that might happen in the coming days. Wherever it comes from. Either from the Albanian side or the Serbian side. We will react very strongly to any kind of provocation."
The Serbs in Kosovo live in enclaves surrounded by ethnic Albanians, mainly in the north. Mitrovica is a divided town, and one which may be the focus of unrest tomorrow.
It is here that the possibility of a mini-Serb administration is being openly discussed.
There are some 40,000 Serbs in the north of the town, twice that many Albanians in the south. Many people insist independence will pass off peacefully, but all admit to knowing some hotheads who may stir up trouble.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 17 February 2008 )
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