Kosovo breaks off from Serbia, UN holds session

Tadic says Belgrade rejects ‘illegal’ decision but will not use force

Kosovars hold flags as they celebrate Kosovo’s declaration of independence in the capital Pristina yesterday.

PRISTINA/BELGRADE (Combined reports) - Kosovo's parliament yesterday declared the province's independence from Serbia, giving Europe a new nation and marking a 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. «Serbia will.. . do everything in its power to revoke the unilateral and illegal declaration of independence,» he said. But he added that Serbia would not use force to reclaim the breakaway province, and urged Serbia's political parties and the 130,000 Serbs living in Kosovo «to remain calm.»

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica lashed out at US President George W. Bush for supporting Kosovo's independence bid, saying the US leader's name would go down in «black letters» in Serbian history.

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.

The declaration began by «reaffirming our wish to become fully integrated into the Euro-Atlantic family of democracies.» (AFP, AP)

MITROVICA/BELGRADE (Combined reports) - An explosion went off in the flashpoint northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica after an independence declaration by the Albanian-majority territory, police sources said yesterday.

The blast occurred near a United Nations court and where a future mission of the European Union will be located, a source said, adding an investigation had been launched into the incident.

Earlier in the day, angry Serbs stoned the US embassy in Belgrade to protest at Kosovo's declaration of independence. «Kosovo is the heart of Serbia,» they shouted as up to 2,000 demonstrators, mostly young men, surrounded the embassy, which was guarded by more than 500 police in full riot gear. (AFP, Reuters)

BRUSSELS/UNITED NATIONS (Combined reports) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged all parties to act calmly and responsibly following Kosovo's declaration of independence yesterday, stressing the need for stability in the region.

«I am in permanent contact with the leaders of Kosovo and the Balkans region,» said Solana, who spoke with Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci after the announcement in Pristina. «I want to underline that stability in Kosovo as well as the whole Balkan region is essential. Therefore I urge everybody to act calmly and in a responsible way,» he added. Foreign ministers from the 27 EU member states will meet in Brussels today with Kosovo at the top of their agenda.

Meanwhile Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said his country wanted the UN mission in Kosovo to declare «null and void» the independence unilaterally declared by the disputed province's Albanian majority.

Speaking shortly before the start of an emergency meeting of the Security Council, Churkin said he would insist on council «resolution 1244 and other relevant documents being implemented by the leadership of UNMIK (UN mission in Kosovo).

«In accordance with those, they are supposed to declare the proclamation of independence null and void,» he added.

Speaking from Tanzania, President Bush said yesterday the US will work to prevent violent clashes. «The United States will continue to work with our allies to do the very best we can to make sure there's no violence,» Bush said, several hours before the declaration was made. (AFP, AP)