Kosovo Independence 3pm GMT!

[N.O.R.F]

Kosovo begins independence move

 

Albanian and American flags have been on prominent display

Kosovo's parliament has been called into emergency session to formally declare independence from Serbia.

"We have to take decisions on the future of our nation," Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told reporters. MPs are expected to meet at 1400 GMT.

 

The US and a number of EU countries are expected to recognise Kosovo on Monday.

 

Serbia has threatened Kosovo with diplomatic and economic sanctions, but not force. Its ally, Russia, also opposes Kosovan independence.

 

 

See a map of Kosovo's ethnic breakdown

Correspondents say the potential for trouble between Kosovo's Serbs and ethnic Albanians is enormous.

 

Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is to make a televised address at 1500 GMT.

 

Flashpoint town

 

"We are on the brink of a very crucial moment - an important decision that will make us one of the free nations of the world," Mr Thaci told the media as he read the letter sent to the speaker of parliament, Jakup Krasniqi, to request the special session.

 

KOSOVO PROFILE

Population about two million

Majority ethnic Albanian; 10% Serb

Under UN control since Nato drove out Serb forces in 1999

2,000-strong EU staff to take over from UN after independence

Nato to stay to provide security

 

 

In pictures: Celebrations

Kosovo youths eye future

Serb and Albanian views

 

He said the MPs would approve the declaration of independence and would vote on the state symbols.

 

Top leaders are due to go to a sports hall later where the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra is expected to play Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

 

Leaders were reportedly also due to sign their names on giant iron letters spelling out the word "newborn" which was to be displayed in Pristina.

 

Fireworks and street celebrations will follow. Thousands of people are pouring onto the streets.

 

"This will be a joyful day," Besnik Berisha, a Pristina resident, told the Associated Press news agency.

 

"The town looks great, and the party should start."

 

 

 

 

UK soldiers on standby

Legal furore over recognition

 

Some ethnic Albanians, who make up the majority of Kosovo's population, have been laying flowers on the graves of family members killed by Serbian security forces during years of conflict and division.

 

The BBC's Nick Thorpe in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica says local and UN police, as well as the Nato troops, are maintaining a high profile to reassure all the citizens of Kosovo that they have nothing to fear.

 

Limitations

 

Kosovo's parliament is expected to endorse a declaration that contains limitations on Kosovan independence as outlined in the UN plan drawn up by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.

 

Kosovo, or part of it, cannot join any other country. It will be supervised by an international presence. Its armed forces will be limited and it will make strong provisions for Serb minority protection.

 

 

HAVE YOUR SAY Unfortunately today Kosovo and Serbia are to become two dispensable chess-pieces of EU/NATO and Russia

Mat, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Send us your commentsRecognition by a number of EU states, including the UK and other major countries, will come on Monday after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, says the BBC's Paul Reynolds.

 

The US is also expected to announce its recognition on Monday.

 

Three EU states - Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia - have told other EU governments that they will not recognise Kosovo, says our correspondent.

 

 

Russia's foreign ministry has indicated that Western recognition of an independent Kosovo could have implications for the Georgian breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

 

The UN has administered Kosovo since a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 drove out Serb forces.

 

 

Show distribution of Albanians outside Kosovo

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7249034.stm

[N.O.R.F]

Kosovo youths hope for better future

Kosovo's youths are hungry to see what nationhood can bring them as the province prepares to declare independence from Serbia, the BBC's Chris Mason in Pristina says.

Giggling and joking in the mid-winter sun, Majlinda, Genta and Lenda are looking forward to the weekend - much like teenagers anywhere in the world.

 

 

The girls say that "with independence everything could change"

 

Sitting on a concrete ledge in Pristina city centre, they are metres away from one of the many United Nations bases here.

 

But increasingly prominent are signs that change is coming - and coming very soon.

 

A sandwich shop, brandishing a huge orange banner saying Congratulation Independence, is doing a brisk trade.

 

The city's municipal authorities are also very busy.

 

Graffiti is being hastily painted over, a road sweeper weaves between the trees on the main pedestrianised street - and a cherry picker crane lifts a worker three storeys high to install a floodlight fitting for the expected celebrations.

 

Posters are going up all over Kosovo's capital, expressing gratitude for the Nato air strikes in 1999 that quashed persecution by the Serbs of the ethnic Albanian majority here.

 

'Big day'

 

Kosovo has waited years for this - and now appears to be hours away from becoming Europe's newest country.

 

 

Kosovo's capital is in a festive mood

 

The three girls gossiping away in the sunshine might only be 14, but the historical significance of independence is not lost on them for a moment.

 

Lenda Hysemi tells me conversations so often in Kosovo return to the same theme: "We learn about it in school, we learn about it from our parents, our teachers, from everyone."

 

"Then you flick on the TV, and it's there as well. Everybody talks about it, when independence comes it'll be a really big day," she adds.

 

I decide - naively - to ask the girls if they are looking forward to the big party that is expected here when the declaration from Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci comes.

 

They are teenagers after all - and there is talk that 80 tonnes of fireworks have been imported to ensure the celebrations do not go unnoticed.

 

Lenda suppresses a teenage giggle, but flashes an expression that screams this is about so much more than a knees-up.

 

Her friend Genta Begiru chips in: "This is very important to us - I think it will change everything. It will change our lives and give us better lives - that is what this is all about."

 

Majlinda Houzimi, sitting next to Genta, nods rigorously in agreement.

 

'Real test'

 

And that is the human story here.

 

 

Posters around Pristina express gratitude to the EU, UK and US

 

Geopolitics and international wrangling over territorial sovereignty can only mean so much to a Kosovo teenager, growing up in a place that is crushingly poor. Nearly every other adult here does not have a job.

 

So what does the future hold for Majlinda, Genta and Lenda? The rhetoric of independence casts a long spell - but will its imminent reality change things enough?

 

The education, including English lessons, these girls are getting could provide them - should they choose to take it - with a ticket out of here.

 

And to them, that will be the real test of the new, independent Kosovo.

 

"Sure, with independence we want to stay," says Lenda. "Maybe people think with going abroad they can have a better life. But with independence everything could change, we might not have to leave this place. We could actually live here forever."

 

Kosovo's next generation is placing quite a weight of expectation on what soon could be its fledgling, prototype government.

 

Raised on a diet of nationalistic rhetoric, they are hungry to see what nationhood can actually bring.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7247826.stm

[Jacaylbaro]

Go Kosovo Go ...................

 

 

Next, Somaliland ?????

 

 

I should run to the TV now ,, i can't miss the curicial moment.

[AfricaOwn]

You have to give the people what they want simply. No force of an union if the people don't want it.

[Jacaylbaro]

And we don't want it ,,,,,,

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

 

Ethnic Albanians offer free beers near

the Parliament of Kosovo in Pristina,

Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008.

[Jacaylbaro]

loooooooool ,,, i can imagine farxadda dadka haysa maanta ,,,, too bad they are offering beer though,

[N.O.R.F]

US and EU to recognise them tomorow!

 

:cool:

[N.O.R.F]

Does this mean the UK will see a bit a exedus???

 

Returning home for 'Independence Day'

 

By Chris Mason

Europe Correspondent, BBC News

 

 

 

Fatmir hopes to return home

Cigarette smoke lingers in the air, and 30-year-old Fatmir Retkoceri, who lives in Beckton in east London, sits back and sips his espresso.

 

We're in the Blue Sky Cafe, a popular haunt with young Kosovans in the heart of their capital, Pristina.

 

Fatmir has made the 1,200-mile trip from the London Borough of Newham to Pristina for what he is calling "Independence Day" - the moment this southern province of Serbia goes its own way.

 

Nine years ago he was a soldier fighting the Serbs, who were accused of persecuting the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo.

 

It is thought about 3,000 people were killed and 900,000 were forced from their homes here in 1999 - a time Fatmir will never forget.

 

This is the day - this is what all the fighting was about

 

Fatmir Retkoceri

 

"I was young, I was just 22 and of course it was horrible. But we had no choice. We either fought and tried to live. Or we died. We wanted to live and to fight for this day."

 

He didn't hesitate for a second to take time off from his job in London valeting cars to be here.

 

"This is the day - this is what all the fighting was about. Independence Day. I can't tell you how glad I am to be back."

 

'Like a dream'

 

As a close friend of his joins us at the coffee table, I suggest people in Kosovo have waited years for this moment.

 

He playfully - but instinctively - immediately puts me right: "No - for centuries, not for years," he insists. "Centuries - you know, it's a long time. That's why I'm so emotional about it.

 

"It's like a dream - more than a dream, in fact. I was born here. Yes, I live in London, I have lived there for 13 years but my heart is here. I have to come back here."

 

So does that mean he'll soon be packing his bags in Newham for good - and leaving London?

 

"Definitely, definitely. Kosovo's going to be a free country, so why not? This is my country, of course I want to come home."

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7249093.stm

[Fabregas]

Originally posted by AfricaOwn:

You have to give the people what they want simply. No force of an union if the people don't want it.

Sadly, the case of Kosovo doesn't have alot to do with that. A country rich in resources, friendly to the West and against the political interests of Russia: we will recognise them. This is a case of grand hypocrisy and shameful contradictions in world affairs. Thus it's not really what the people want, but rather what the world powers desire. Though I do support their independence in this case, one should not be fooled by the rhetoric of self determination and freedom( it's all about limiting the power of Russia and controling the resources in that area). It will also be interesting to see the reaction to this one.....