After declaring independence, Kosovo looks to cautious next steps
President Bush hailed the controversial move, as the EU and UN met to form their responses.
from the February 19, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 3
In Pristina, the mechanics of independence went more smoothly than many ordinary Kosovars and officials here had dared to hope. No violence was reported.
"We have been waiting for centuries for this day to come. I'm so happy that Kosovo is now the world's newest country," says Safet Haxhijaha, one of a group of men wearing T-shirts proclaiming Kosovo "The World's 193rd State."
Had it not been for the faded photographs of the Kosovo war dead hanging on the fence of the parliament building, the gaiety and conviviality would have been almost enough to help forget the brutal events that set Kosovo on the path to statehood.
"What we need now is a gigantic leap out of the Balkans and into Europe, mentally and culturally," says a longtime senior UN official here. "Both Serbs and Albanians need to stop thinking about the past, revenge, history, and focus on the future. What bodes well for Kosovo is the optimistic feel everyone had on Sunday. Kosovars even really like the new flag."
On Monday morning in Belgrade, eyewitnesses to the stoning of the US Embassy said protesters broke windows but did not go further in their tussle with Serb police. "It was not many people, about 400, and the kind of people who do this all the time, at soccer stadiums, wherever they can vent," said a long time Belgrade resident who ventured out Sunday night.
"It seems to me like an airing out, a letting out of tensions and strong emotions, that might be expected," said a former government minister contacted by phone. "But there aren't any tanks in the streets, of course, and a lot of people now think, let's be calm and smart and get on with things. Given the political tensions here, however, I truly hope the EU and US will offer some tangible help to those forces advising calmness and smartness. It would make a difference."
On Sunday, as Mr. Thaci addressed the parliament, officially declaring Kosovo independent, men and women wept in the streets. Later the skies were lit by 80 tons of fireworks, as Pristina reverberated to explosions far more welcome than those of a decade ago, when a million people left their homes for refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania.
Serbs protest
But Serbs across Kosovo took to the streets to protest the declaration. Serbian leaders have announced plans to establish a parallel parliament, a move that will deepen the separation between the two communities.
"We will not cooperate with the EU," says Boris Janicijevic, a young worker in Mitrovica. "The mission was not agreed in the Security Council, so it is not valid. If they come here, we will start civil disobedience, and totally boycott them."
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