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Kosovo's Streets Buzz As It Nears Statehood

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By WILLIAM J. KOLE, The Associated Press

Published: February 17, 2008

PRISTINA, Serbia - Tiny Kosovo - poor, mostly Muslim but feverishly pro-Western - braced itself Saturday for a historic declaration of independence from Serbia, a decade after a war that killed 10,000 people followed by years of limbo under U.N. rule.

The province's bold bid for statehood, expected to be made during a special session of parliament today, and its quest for international recognition set up an ominous showdown with Serbia and Russia. Moscow contends the move will set a dangerous precedent for secessionist groups worldwide.
Revelers took to the streets in giddy anticipation. Prime Minister Hashim Thaci - a former leader of the disbanded guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army - marked the eve of the new nation's birth by visiting a village where Serbian troops massacred ethnic Albanians in 1998.

"Tomorrow is a historic day in our effort to create a state," Thaci said in Prekaze, about 25 miles southeast of the capital, Pristina.

Although it is formally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended the late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on separatists.

With Russia, a staunch Serbian ally, determined to block the bid, Kosovo looked to the United States and key European powers for swift recognition, likely to come Monday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Belgium.

The EU gave its final go-ahead Saturday to send an 1,800-member mission to replace the current U.N. administration.

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