Kosovo declares independence
Feb 17 03:01 PM US/Eastern
Kosovo's parliament Sunday declared the province's independence from Serbia, giving Europe a new nation and marking an historic turning point in the volatile Balkans.
"From this moment, the political position of Kosovo has changed," announced the speaker of parliament, Jakup Krasniqi, after a unilateral declaration of independence was adopted by lawmakers through a show of hands.
"We are now an independent, free, sovereign and democratic country. Congratulations to all of you."
The streets of Pristina, packed with cheering and flag-waving Kosovars, erupted in euphoria at the moment of independence under a crisp and clear winter sky, with volleys of firecrackers going off.
The pedestrianized Mother Teresa avenue was awash with blood-red Albanian flags -- pending parliament's approval later in the day of a new Kosovo flag, depicting a map of the newborn state on a dark star-studded field.
In Belgrade, Serbian President Boris Tadic said Serbia would never recognize Kosovo as an independent state, while in New York the UN Security Council was to hold an emergency session later in the day.
Serbia's strong ally Russia has effectively blocked Security Council approval of Kosovo's move to independence.
But Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci made a point of telling parliament in Serbian: "This is the end of any hope Belgrade may have of ruling Kosovo. Let this be a day of new beginnings."
Inside the wood-panelled parliamentary chamber, foreign diplomats looked on as the 100-odd legislators took turns using a fountain pen to put their signatures onto the declaration of independence.
Present as well were the family of the late Ibrahim Rugova, the veteran independence campaigner who was Kosovo's first president after the province was wrested from Belgrade's control in 1999 by a NATO air war.
Seen by an AFP reporter inside parliament, too, were relatives of Adem Jashari, a Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla who became an independence martyr when he was killed by Serbian security forces in March 1998.
Notable by his absence was the head of the United Nations interim administration in Kosovo, Joachim Ruecker, whose mission is expected to withdraw in the coming weeks.
The historic declaration was spread widely across a wooden table, on one side of which were seated President Fatmir Sejdiu, prime minister Thaci and Krasniqi, the parliamentary speaker.
Its text, according to an official translation from Albanian into English, began by "reaffirming our wish to become fully integrated into the Euro-Atlantic family of democracies".
"We declare Kosovo to be a democratic, secular and multi-ethnic republic, guided by the principles of non-discrimination and equal protection under the law," read the key paragraph of the nearly 1,200-word text.
"We shall protect and promote the rights of all communities in Kosovo and create the conditions necessary for their effective participation in political and decision-making processes."
It said Kosovo is "a special case arising from Yugoslavia's non-consensual breakup and is not a precedent for any other situation," and recalled "the days and years of violence in Kosovo that disturbed many nations in the world".
|
