| Kosovo's independence |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Saturday, 16 June 2007 | |
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It’s capital, Pristina, is managed jointly by ethnic Albanian and UN leaders; yet Belgrade's influence is already greatly reduced. More over President George W Bush said on 10 June that the US is still a strong supporter of Kosovo's independence. The president said he was "worried about the expectations not being met" in Kosovo, and urged the UN. to “take actions now”. Bush also appealed to Albanian leaders to work with Kosovo's Albanian majority to keep the province calm and peaceful until a UN vote. Since NATO forces occupied Kosovo in 1999, the province has been a protectorate of the United Nations, with broad administrative responsibility under a mission called UNMIK. Technically, Kosovo remains a province of Serbia. Kosovo, the southern Serbian province, has been run by the UN and the NATO since 1999. Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the province's 2 million people, are demanding independence, while Serbia and the Serbs in Kosovo want it to remain within Serbia. Pockets of orthodox Christian Serbs remain, though they are often physically isolated. Tens of thousands of war refugees have not returned. The estimated 100,000 Serbs remaining in Kosovo have almost uniformly refused to recognize the legitimacy of an Albanian-led government or to participate UNMIK-led elections. Rather, they have sought to retain formal ties with Belgrade. Kosovo, still officially a province of Serbia, is bitterly divided between Serbian enclaves, including a large chunk of the north, and the rest of the territory, which is overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian. Now, as the United Nations nudges Kosovo toward what it calls "final status" and Belgrade calls independence, many of northern Kosovo's Serbs are threatening to break away. At present, Serbia, weakly governed by an uneasy moderate coalition and pressured from the nationalist right, is emphatic in its rejection of independence for Kosovo. Most of the Kosovo Serbs insist that they will never accept an independent Kosovo. Even if the government in Pristina does hoist a new national flag, they say, they will fight to recover the province that Serbs still consider their cultural heartland. Kosovo Albanians and their international supporters hope that a high degree of autonomy in Serbian areas with guarantees for the protection of Serbian rights and strict international oversight will eventually persuade Serbs in the territory to accept an Albanian-led government in Pristina. Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 June 2007 ) |
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