Elation and Dread as Kosovo Declaration Nears

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Kosovo Celebrates on Eve of Independence

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

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Thaci, the former political leader of the KLA, has attempted to soothe the fearful Serb community, assuring his isolated neighbors that they have a place in the new state.

"In an independent Kosovo, no citizen of Kosovo will be discriminated against or pushed aside," said Thaci, who visited Jashari's grave site Saturday. "Kosovo is the mother of all its citizens."

To some here, such words carry little weight. About 250,000 Serbs, Roma and other minorities fled Kosovo in the wake of a campaign of intimidation by the ethnic Albanians that both NATO and the United Nations seemed powerless to stop. Most of the remaining 120,000 Serbs live in enclaves protected by NATO troops and barbed wire. Parts of Kosovo's north, which border Serbia, and some communities in the eastern part of the province are enclosed, Serb-only areas seething with resentment.

"We will remain part of Serbia," said Oliver Ivanovich, a Serb leader in Mitrovica, which is divided by the Ibar River into Serb and ethnic Albanian sectors. "We will have Serbian passports. We will use Serbian currency. Belgrade will continue to support us. Everything will continue in the same way."

What remains unclear is whether the Serb-populated areas around Mitrovica will attempt to secede from Kosovo and how much the authorities in the Serbian capital of Belgrade might encourage such an effort. Moreover, it is also not clear whether Serbs who have worked with the U.N. administration that has run the province for the past nine years, including some politicians, civil servants and policemen, will simply quit.

"Some people have a backup plan to get out," said Jelena Bjelica, the editor of a Serb newspaper in Kosovo. "But how many will leave, we don't know."

Any attempt by Serbs in the north to formally break away from Kosovo would inflame ethnic Albanians and further isolate Serb areas surrounded by ethnic Albanians.

In those enclaves, fatalism has often replaced the defiance expressed in Mitrovica.

"What can we do? They are the majority and they can do what they want," said one Serb who lives in a cluster of houses above a Serbian Orthodox Church in the western city of Pec, called Peja by ethnic Albanians. "If they come to murder me in my bed, what can I do?"

The man, a farmer, declined to give his name, and many other Serbs this weekend declined to be interviewed.

Kosovo's independence is constrained by the continuing role of the European Union, which is overseeing the adoption of a constitution that respects minority rights. The E.U. will also appoint a top diplomat who will have the authority to reject laws deemed discriminatory. Recognition of Kosovo by some E.U. countries, such as Britain, France and Germany, is contingent on the province's leaders inviting the E.U. to exercise a supervisory role in the new country.

For some ethnic Albanians, the change in status means only that their U.N. overseers will be replaced by European ones.

"The European Union doesn't speak the language of liberty," said Albin Kurti, head of an organization called Self-Determination. "The European Union can monitor minority rights, but not rule over us. This declaration will not establish an independent Kosovo. It is just an affirmation of our continuing dependence."

U.N. administration of Kosovo has brought little economic development, and as much as 45 percent of the population is unemployed.

"There is a lot of joy and emotion, but also a lot of expectations that everything will now be solved," said Shpend Ahmeti, executive director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Kosovo. "We have linked every problem to our status and used it as an excuse for everything. With independence, people will expect results. No more excuses."