Shtypi i huaj rreth Kosovës

[Arb]

Dear A - I am writing this because some of my best friends are Serbs, and because of the historical links between Serbs and Jews. Some of my best friends are also Kosovar Albanians, and as Jews, who have been stateless for such a long time, many of us understand and support their quest for self-determination and independence.

This is a crucial time for Serbia, and it appears that because of a fixation on the past - revered and sacred as it may be - Serbia may be forfeiting its chance of future association with the European Union, to which by history and culture your country certainly belongs.

Let us first start with the incontrovertible facts of the present: 90% of the population of Kosovo is ethnic Albanian, and they will never willingly revert to Serbian rule, which after the annexation of Kosovo to Serbia in 1913 has been to them a continuous history of exclusion, discrimination and eventual ethnic cleansing. Nor will the democratic West accept a return of Serbian rule.

Does it mean that the Kosovar Albanians are blameless? Of course not. In ethnic conflict no side is totally right or totally wrong.

I know you view Kosovo as your Jerusalem, and this argument falls on willing ears in Israel and among Jews generally.

But if the population of Jerusalem would have been 90% Arab, the Israeli claim to it would certainly be very tenuous.

I know you have deep historical associations with Kosovo, which since the emergence of Serbian nationalism in the 19th century has been christened "the cradle of Serbian civilization."

Yet one cannot draw 21st century borders according to historical links which overlook the wishes of the present population. The question is not territory, but people. It is for this reason that most Israelis today are willing to give up claims to the historical regions of Judea and Samaria, even willing to consider Palestinian rule over parts of Jerusalem. History clashes with reality: this may be unfortunate, but one has to confront it.

I KNOW you claim that for centuries Serbia has been a bulwark of Christian Europe against Islam. I leave aside the unpleasant "clash of civilizations," if not racist overtones, of this claim. But - let's again be realistic: after all, you lost the battle of Kosovo in 1389 to the Ottomans, so you were not that successful in defending Europe against Islam (whatever this may mean).

You offer the Kosovo Albanians autonomy, not independence. Put yourself in their shoes. Was "autonomy" under Turkish rule in the 19th century sufficient for the Serbs? What's the difference?

I know all this may be very painful to you; and with some justification you may ask me: How can you call yourself a friend of the Serbs after saying all these things?

For a simple reason: I would like to see Serbia join Europe, just a Slovenia did and Croatia may in the future. Do not exclude yourself because of historical memories, do not be your own worst enemy. Do what modern nations - the French and the Germans, for example - have done after centuries of warfare: emancipate yourself from the shackles of the past, cut you loses (yes, modern nations have to do this too) and shape your future according to the values of self-determination and mutual acceptance.

And those Serbs, who would like to visit the monasteries and other historical sites in Kosovo, could do this - as today ethnic Germans visit their ancestral sites in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, without laying claims to these regions because of their centuries-old associations with them.

Serbia is a proud nation. It has a bright future ahead of it. Don't let the past steal it away from you.

The writer is professor of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the author of a recently published intellectual biography of Theodor Herzl.

[Arb]

50 cent, emergency generators and contraband tobacco

With unemployment at more than 40%, the black market economy and a lack of political clarity acting as weights around the country's neck, the Kosovar market is searching for a way into the wider world and a definitive boom in its growth levels.

After midday prayers at the historic Carshi Mosque, crowds of people bustle constantly around the entrance to the bazaar in the centre of Pristina.

Cars, pedestrians and people carrying merchandise share a pavement full of puddles, which has been severely punished with the passing of time.

In all directions, vendors are selling a huge variety of products at top speed: vegetables, spicy pepper sauce, feta cheese, and all kinds of product with the Albanian 'brand': flags, biros, etc.

These businessmen claim to have the best prices in the city: a kilo and a half of bananas for 1 euro, a kilo of oranges for 80 cents, and even a T-shirt bearing the Albanian national emblem, the double-headed eagle, for 3 euros.

But what really catches one's attention is the sale of contraband tobacco from western Europe under the indifferent eyes of the local police.

In the opinion of Bedri Ahmeti, a shoeseller with ample experience in the market, the black market economy is a trend on the decline. 'Just after the war, we had a period of great benefits because we could import whatever we liked from Turkey since there was nothing in the way of law or control.

Now, with the introduction of a value-added tax, the need to obtain import permits and the growing control of public powers, business isn't quite so good for us'. With a certain amount of irony, Ahmeti concludes that it was easier to bribe the Serbian police than it is the police of today.

'People need to be educated in paying taxes'

Away from the bazaar, the feeling is quite the opposite. Dozens of improvised shops are strategically situated near to the seat of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK - the interim civilian administration).

According to the European commission's economic adviser in Pristina, Freek Janmaat, 'the importance of the black market economy in Kosovo is enormous.

You only need to look at the over-estimated figure of 45% of the active population being unemployed to understand the size of the black market economy'. And the fact is that many citizens prefer not to formalise their situation in order to keep on receiving subsidies. For this reason, the Dutch diplomat emphasises the need to implement 'reforms in the legal and fiscal systems' to strengthen observance of the law and, as a result, economic growth.

Akan Ismaili is the young founder of Ipkonet, Kosovo's first internet service provider. He shares Janmaat's view: 'Over more than ten years Kosovars have become used to not paying taxes. We have to change people's mentality, teach them to pay taxes and respect the rules,' he says, from the watchtower that is his modern office in the tower of Kosovo's Radio Television. Ismaili's words take on an importance, coming as they do from the mouth of the person who holds the reins of the first internet service provider, which will soon be the second mobile telephone network in Kosovo, thanks to the support of foreign investor Slovenije Telecom.

With exultant optimism, the director of Ipkonet stresses that although the risks could be high, foreign investors value the return on their investments and the great opportunities that the country offers. According to Ismaili, 'after losing the revolutions and living in one of the most isolated countries during the 1990s, Kosovars want to be a part of the whole world.' As proof of this psychological opening-up, the entrepreneur points to the high numbers of Kosovar homes equipped with the internet.

The intermittent lights of the economy

Walking through the streets surrounding the UNMIK building, the profusion of satellite dishes, the growing number of clothes shops carrying Western brands, art galleries and designer bars worthy of any great European capital city all seem to be signs of a certain level of growth in the country, thanks in part to income from Pristina's international community. But it is not only due to this.

According to the latest report from the European commission, for the first time since the war, economic growth has been based 'on internal consumption and not on external aid or gifts sent from the diaspora,' in the words of Freek Janmaat. The Kosovar economy grew throughout 2006 by 3% while the level of foreign aid fell, settling at 20.5% of GDP, according to UNMIK's 2007 report on economic perspectives for 2007.

Nevertheless, the presence in those same streets of generators to provide guarantees in the face of periodic power cuts, problems with the water supply, the precarious nature of the infrastructure and of public services, and high unemployment bring one back to the day-to-day reality in Kosovo, eight years after the UN began its administration of the territory.

Young people and women suffer the consequences of the weakness of the Kosovar labour market. According to Freek Janmeet, they will need to 'see whether the 35, 000 - 40,000 of young people who join the labour market every year can be absorbed by the Kosovar economy in the next five or six years.' This figure is particularly worrying if we take into consideration the fact that young people represent 50% of the Kosovar age pyramid.

The low level of employment is, for Luljeta Vuniqi, executive director of the Kosovar Centre for Gender Studies, another of the most alarming factors in the Kosovar economy, since according to the feminist activist, '80% of the unemployed are women.' Both Janmaat and Vuniqi agree on the need to make the educational system more robust, and, in particular, studies at intermediate and higher level as a way of offering future opportunities to young Kosovars.

Whatever happens, a good part of the future in Kosovo is being illuminated once and for all in a definitive statute and through the promotion of good government of the country. Only then will foreign investors have the necessary confidence to invest on a large scale in Kosovo. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Pristina will have to live out the illusion of a better future through initiatives such as the concert given on 17 November by the American rap artist 50 Cent in Pristina's football stadium, financed by Ipkonet.

[Arb]

Educating Pristina

Leaving an area scarred by ethnic conflict and fifty years of communism is a tempting prospect for young Kosovars. However, most of those who leave to study or work abroad decide to return for good

45% unemployment, a pervasive black market, a GDP of 1000 euros per capita per year and widespread corruption: Kosovo’s economic situation is far from ideal. Those who are able to leave may choose not to come back. This brain drain threatens to rot the whole of eastern Europe, and Poland is an example. Despite a flourishing economy, many young qualified Poles (doctors, engineers, architects) have migrated westward without a second thought, seduced by the European dream. The Warsaw government’s current attempts to bring them back have been in vain.

This situation is quite different to what is happening with young Kosovars. ‘Why should I work in Sweden?’ asks Miranda, a young IT technician who was awarded her masters last year in Scandinavia. ‘I was offered a job over there, but I turned it down to come back to Kosovo, so I can work for my country’s future.’

Miranda is part of a new generation who reached adulthood when NATO took action against Serbia in 1999. NATO’s success meant that more young people were able to study, unlike their parents who lived under the cultural repression of the Milosevic era. Between 1986 and 1999, the University of Pristina was completely closed to Albanian speakers despite their majority. Education was only available to Serbian speakers.

Visions of the future




Walking along the city's main Mother Teresa boulevard, in imminent construction (Photo: ©Andrea Decovich)


Miranda considers her experience abroad to be beneficial to Kosovar development. ‘Now that I’m back and I’m working, why not think about a future partnership with research laboratories in Sweden? I learnt a lot about the country and now I have contacts there. We could set up a programme with Pristina and send more young people over to study. This way, my experience could help other people.’

Young Kosovars represent almost half the area’s two million inhabitants, and they believe that, nowadays, it is important to be able to go and study or work abroad. However, most people come back to Kosovo afterwards.

Velmir and Besart are studying international relations at the University of Pristina. They have not yet left Kosovo and already know that they will return there. Velmir wants to go to France and Besart to the United States. ‘If I want to leave, it is primarily so that I can come back,’ explains Besart. ‘To bring everything I learn back with me - new ideas, new ways of doing things.’ Besart explains how this desire to return is partly due to their constitution. ‘It says that we must serve Kosovo,’ he points out, ‘but it is more than a duty. I don’t know how to explain it in words. It’s something you feel inside.’

Grants and visas

The University of Pristina encourages students to go abroad and the international relations office is not shy about its ambitions despite the difficulties it faces. ‘About 200 students go abroad each year but only fifty receive a study grant. The others have to fund themselves,’ comments Jehona Lushaku, office manager.

‘One of the biggest problems is getting a visa. We are not part of the European community and the application process is long and expensive, about 60 euros per student.’ Most students who leave Kosovo go to Europe because many of them have family who emigrated there.

When Miranda, Velmir and Besart say that they want to bring new skills back to Kosovo, they are indirectly following government policy. ‘Students are sometimes sent abroad for very specific reasons. For example, if the Ministry for Energy realises that Kosovo needs two specialists in a particular area, they will put forward two grants for students to go abroad and study that subject, and then employ them on their return,’ underlines Lushaku.

In order to be in line with European practices and allow exchanges to take place, the University of Pristina hopes to work more and more closely with the Bologna Process. ‘Our aim is not only to send our students abroad, but also to encourage others to come here, from all over Europe. A new program called CEEPUS will be set up next year and 100 of our students will go elsewhere and we will receive 100 foreign students in their place.’

Foreign organisations such as the Institut Français, the Goethe Institute and the British Council have also put forward financial incentives to encourage young people to go abroad. ‘Students have to sign a contract with a clause saying that they have to come back when they finish their studies,’ continues Lushaku. ‘These organisations also want young qualified people to settle in Kosovo, the place where they are needed most.’

Post-1999 generation

‘The young people who are leaving today will come back because they know that they have a better chance of finding a good job here than anyone else does,’ states Ilir Hoxha, head of a youth project financed by both the World Bank and the Pristina government. Ilir has himself received a Masters in management of healthcare systems from the prestigious London School of Economics (LSE) in Great Britain.

‘Before the war, people left out of desperation because Kosovo had no future. Today, things are different. Independence is a huge challenge that could bring positive results, but it is difficult to achieve. We need young people for this,’ reiterates Hoxha.

If qualified young people are prepared to come back and live in Kosovo to build a new country, what about those who are less fortunate? Miranda is well aware of the answer. ‘Their only dream is to go and work in America. They would die for the chance. That’s why we have to develop our country, so that they want to live here.’

In-text photo: Walking along the city's main Mother Teresa boulevard, in imminent construction (Andrea Decovich)

[Preshevar]

Lajme nga shtetët e Ballkanit : http://balkans.courriers.info/

[Arb]

Keeping Moscow at Bay - In Kosovo


January 3, 2008 1:30 AM


Stephen Schwartz makes the case for Kosovar independence now and why the U.S. must support the ethnic Albanians against Serbia and Russia. The alternative, he warns, will be “the return of Russian power, enriched by energy and bent on reestablishing a bipolar world in which only the U.S. and Moscow count.”

By Stephen Schwartz
World War IV is real. It began not on September 11, 2001, but in 1978 when the Russians installed a puppet regime in Afghanistan.

The Russian incursion south toward the Indian Ocean reproduced the history of more than a century before, beginning in 1875, when the tsar incited the Balkan Christians to rebel against the Ottomans. But events never repeat themselves exactly. Developments today follow the cycle between the Austrian absorption of Bosnia-Hercegovina in 1908 and the Sarajevo assassination of 1914. Europe claims that, like the Habsburgs in Bosnia, it will bring progress to Kosovo, now demanding independence. Russia seeks aggrandizement. But while those are the permanent features of the political landscape, the details have been distorted to appear new.

Kosovo has dropped off the political map for most Americans, who are diverted by continuing terrorism in the core Islamic countries – exemplified by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Similarly, Western obliviousness has encouraged Turkey to attack Iraqi Kurdistan with impunity. Westerners find it difficult to perceive clearly how, while the U.S. is absorbed with the headlines in the battle against jihadists, other malign interests – Russian and Chinese imperialism no less than Turkish ultranationalism – pursue their own aims. The appetites of Moscow could again set Europe afire, beginning in Kosovo - just as war was touched off in Sarajevo.

While Kosovo appears most important to Albanians and their friends, the territory’s independence is significant for another reason – as a bulwark against revived Russian designs beyond its borders.

Kosovo independence has been promised, explicitly or implicitly, by the U.S. and some European countries since 1999. There are no special “processes” required for the attainment of independence, except, when necessary, a struggle against the colonial power. Indeed, the United Nationsdeclared in the great age of decolonization – the 1950s and 1960s – that “Inadequacy of political, economic, social or educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying independence.”

Failure to secure independence for the Kosovar Albanians will have further negative consequences. First, it would be a betrayal by the U.S. of one of the few majority-Muslim communities in the world that is wholly pro-American – a threat also visible in the alienation of Kurdish affections by American hesitation to restrain Turkey in Iraq. But most importantly, it will encourage Serbian adventurism, as well as similar attitudes elsewhere – beginning in Turkey and Russia, but opening a road without a predictable end, except probable disaster. While Western media and pseudo-experts prattle about the dangers of “separatism” in Europe, the real menace comes from the arrogance of the established powers, not from the oppressed small nations. Giant Russia has always backed nearby Serbia against the Albanians, except briefly during the Tito era, while the few million Albanians have real friends only in distant America. The balance is hardly as even as it should be.

When I went to Kosovo in mid-December – expecting a declaration of independence at that time – Kosovars were still trusting and enthusiastic about America, but consumed with rage at the obstruction of Russia and the endless delays proposed by the Europeans.

Russian imperialism has been the bulwark of obscurantism and collective hatred in Europe since the 18th century, and the division of Poland beginning in 1772. The regime of Vladimir Putin has revived the strategy of encroachment and belligerence pursued by his predecessors. Few of us who fought for and celebrated the defeat of Soviet Communism imagined that it would be succeeded by mafia capitalism, and then by a neo-tsarism that exploits its speculative prosperity to demand submission from its neighbors.

In accord with this legacy, Putin and his cohort have repeatedly stated bluntly that the Kosovo question must be deferred to the United Nations Security Council, where Moscow will veto independence. The anticolonial principles that the Russians claimed to support in 1960, when the issue was that of the Congolese versus the Belgians, are elided now that Moscow wishes to reincorporate Ukraine and China continues to exercise a cruel domination over Tibet.
Kosovo has gained the renewed, if vague, attention of the Western press, which unfailingly covers the bid for statehood in two ways, both mendacious. The first turns victims of a 20th century attempted genocide into the victimizers. Thus the British dailies tearfully elicit sympathy for Kosovo Serbs who allegedly face “ethnic cleansing” from their supposed “cultural cradle.” The second way reduces the issue to irrelevance, treating the Kosovars as yet another quixotic separatist movement in which the arguments of “both sides” merit equal attention. The Kosovar Albanian viewpoint – the land was theirs centuries before the Slavic invasions 1,500 years ago – is seldom heard or read in the Western media.

Srebrenica – the site of the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys by Serbian terrorists – is the most prominent recent symbol of Moscow-backed genocidal aggression in Europe. While Boris Yeltsin, then the titular leader of post-Soviet Russia, pursued inconsistent policies on the issues created by Russia’s imperial history, powerful interests in the former USSR backed Serbian and other terrorist crimes against whole communities. Throughout the Bosnian conflict, Russian nationalist media and politicians supported Serb claims, and Russian volunteers served alongside Serbs in committing bloody atrocities in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kosovo. I argued in my 2002 book The Two Faces of Islam that a Muscovite strategy of Slav-Orthodox assault on vulnerable Muslims had been visible not merely in Afghanistan, but in Europe, too. Communists expelled Bulgaria’s Turkish minority and “nationalized” domestic Bulgarian Muslims in the 1980s. Armenia also assaulted Azerbaijan, and Russia’s devastation of Chechnya began as the Soviet Union collapsed. In other words, the wars against the Bosnian Muslims and Kosovar Albanians came after many warnings, for those capable of understanding them.

Kosovo has a Srebrenica, which is much less well-known. It is called Korenica and is located in the western section of Kosovo, near the city of Gjakova.

In Korenica, on April 27, 1999 – a month after the commencement of the NATO bombing of Serbia – nearly 400 Albanians were wantonly murdered by Serbian irregulars. But Korenica is significant for more than its having seen the largest number of Albanian victims in a single Serbian assault during the 1998-99 conflict.

While Serbs and their apologists portray their role in the long battle for Kosovo as a defense against a jihadist offensive by Albanian Muslims hateful of Slav Christians, their churches, and their sacred heritage, the majority of the Albanians killed at Korenica were Catholics. The aim of the Serbs, like that of their Russian protectors, has always been to promote the dominance of the Orthodox Christian identity over all the peoples that follow religious traditions different from it.
I first learned of the crime of Korenica only months after it took place, during a visit to Gjakova. I found out about the killings accidentally, when I drove along a rural road and found a Sufi turbe or mausoleum. Inside the structure, I was shocked to discover the coffins of 24 infants. It was then that I learned about the Korenica slayings, and was taken to a graveyard that included many wooden markers with the initials “N.N.” for an unidentified corpse.

[Arb]

I believe I was among the first foreigners, aside from some human rights monitors, to thoroughly research the Korenica incident, and in the years that followed I continued an extensive inquiry into it. First, in 1999, I interviewed a brave Albanian Catholic priest from Gjakova, Pater Ambroz Ukaj, who had defied Serbian officers to learn what had transpired in Korenica. Later I learned that a Sufi, Shaykh Rama of Gjakova, had been killed at Korenica. In recent years, the Center for Islamic Pluralism, of which I am Executive Director, has supported reconstruction of a primary school in the Korenica district, the Pjetër Muqaj School in the hamlet of Guska, that educates both Catholic and Muslim children.
Europe seems not to understand that in refusing to repudiate Serbian and Russian blandishments, and in failing to assist the Kosovar Albanians consequentially, it is committing a slow suicide. Spain is afraid of demands for rights by the Basques and Catalans; Slovakia and Romania have a bad conscience about their treatment of their large Hungarian minorities, which possess capacity for resistance unknown among the Roma, those other martyrs to Slovak and Romanian nationalism. Cyprus should probably not have been admitted to the EU without the participation of its Turkish-minority northern zone (a topic so convoluted as to require a separate article.)

But rather than deal with stateless nations and minorities fairly, resolve its fear of Turkish Islam, and recognize the unquenchable desire of the Kosovar Albanians for freedom, Europe may blindly submit to the return of Russian power, enriched by energy and bent on reestablishing a bipolar world in which only the U.S. and Moscow count.

The U.S. still counts, more than either the hallucinated Serbian and Russian leadership or the Europeans – the latter with a disgraceful record of preferring peace to freedom. America must support Kosovar independence, without dishonorable concessions to Belgrade or Moscow, and without delay.

[Arb]

Kosova E. Albanian organization slams EU mission plan

09/01/2008
Prishtina, dtt-net.com - A youth organization of Ethnic Albanians argues in an open letter addressed to the European governments that the EU civilian and police mission expected to be deployed in Kosovo soon will be based on the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 which doesn’t support the independence but autonomy under Serbia.

Below is the letter of Vetevendosja (Self-determination) led by Albin Kurti addressed to the foreign ministers of the EU member nations:

Open letter to EU foreign Ministers

We are writing to you with regard to the new EU mission that will shortly be established officially in Kosova under the authority of the existing UN Security Council Resolution 1244, according to news reports.

This new EU mission has been described as a ‘state-building’ mission and one which will lay the groundwork for an independent Kosova. But in reality, it will be fundamentally non-democratic. Furthermore, it will be based upon a Resolution which expressly states in Article 10, that the international mission has as its goal the restoration of ‘substantial autonomy’ for Kosova within Serbia.

We firmly believe that the objective of the European Union, and the values which its peoples and their sovereign states espouse, are those of democracy and justice. We demand the right to enjoy the same rights as your own peoples and we question how the European Union can justify to its citizens the imposition of a non-democratic regime in our country.

First, the establishment of this new EU mission has been agreed without consulting the people of Kosova. Its existence is based on the (Martti) Ahtisaari Settlement which has not been accepted officially as part of any ‘status’ agreement for Kosova. This Settlement was negotiated by politicians who were elected by approximately 49% of the people of Kosova in 2004, and less than 40% in November 2007. They have no mandate to make deals over our freedom, and nor do international powers have any right to make decisions about how we want to live our lives, and who we want to govern us. This is a decision that can only be made by all the people of Kosova, voting in a referendum as an expression of our right to self-determination guaranteed by international conventions to which all of your member states subscribe.

If 600,000 people in Montenegro can have the right to vote in a referendum to determine their political future, why should we be denied the same right?

Second, this new EU mission is doomed to fail because although it proclaims that it is coming to help build democracy in Kosova, it will be undemocratic. The International Civilian Office (ICO) will hold executive power in Kosova, ensuring that the political pluralism we enjoy remains simply a façade, hiding the fact that the representatives for whom the people vote have no real power to implement the policies on which they campaign. Political pluralism without sovereignty simply helps to divide us amongst ourselves and to make easier our rule by others.

Furthermore, there are no mechanisms within this ICO to provide for accountability, leaving us at the mercy of their interpretation of justice. Once again the people of Kosova will be taught the lesson of democracy from a foreign regime which is not elected by and not accountable to the people whom it governs.

Finally, the International Civilian Representative (ICR) will have the power (without any system of redress) to sack from office any official or elected politician who opposes the mission of the Ahtisaari Plan, thus ensuring that the voice of dissent, critical to the functioning of democracy, will be repressed.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Arb]

We want the EU to be in Kosova helping us to build our institutions and monitoring minority rights, but we do not need to be governed by the EU. Democracy cannot be established through a system which is undemocratic. It can only be slowly destroyed. The turnout in the last election is evidence enough to prove this point.

Third, the EU mission will by its very presence here deny us the sovereignty and independence we demand. There is no such thing as ‘supervised’ freedom. You are either free or you are not free.

If the mission comes under the auspices of Resolution 1244, then it will be a mission preparing Kosova for ‘substantial autonomy’. If it is established under a new Resolution, it will be our jailor because its mission is to implement the Ahtisaari Settlement. This settlement does not state that Kosova will become independent and sovereign. It promises us the continuance of non-democratic and foreign rule.

Fifty years after the Civil Rights Movement won their battle to end segregation in the USA, and nearly twenty years after people pulled down the Berlin Wall physically and psychologically, Ahtisaari is proposing to divide Kosova along ethnic and religious lines.

Ahtisaari’s Settlement will accentuate the ‘ethnic’ nature of the Kosova conflict, rather than resolving its political causes. It prescribes decentralization along ethnic lines which will create a Serb entity inside Kosova, like Republika Srpska in Bosnia. Six new Serb majority municipalities will be created, containing most of the key mineral and water resources of Kosova, for example, the reservoir of Gazivodë which supplies 60% of Kosova’s water. These municipalities will be linked territorially and administratively, and have the right to be funded by Belgrade. The parallel structures which have functioned in these areas, without obstruction by UNMIK since 1999, will be legalized and all the Serbs who work in these structures will still receive their salaries from Belgrade. Thus, Serbia’s influence in Kosova will be strengthened by this plan, not weakened. Once more, Serbs in Kosova will be instrumentalized by Serbia, which has consistently refused to allow them to integrate.

Decentralization is not being implemented in order to bring government closer to the people. It is being used as a tool for apartheid.

The plan will also lay the groundwork to transform the political conflict into a religious conflict by recognizing all Orthodox monuments, churches and monasteries in Kosova as the sole property of the Serbian Orthodox Church. By claiming the Orthodox cultural heritage of Kosova as Serb this legitimizes Serbia’s claim to Kosova as its ‘Jerusalem’ and the cradle of its nation. It also denies this heritage to all the people of Kosova. Many Albanian families have an Orthodox heritage. Many of their ancestors worshipped in Orthodox churches until the 18th century when the majority of conversions took place under the Ottoman Empire.

They protected these buildings, built them and worshipped in them before people thought of themselves in terms of ‘nations’.

The Ahtisaari Plan establishes the absurd logic that should an Albanian want to convert to Orthodoxism, he will also have to become a ‘Serb’. To exacerbate this religious division, the plan envisages the creation of special zones around selected monasteries, further isolating them from the community and including hundreds of hectares of socially owned and private property. In the zone surrounding the Monastery of Deçan, villagers have only been allowed the right to cut hay on their land, nothing more.

When the villagers oppose the creation of these zones, their resistance will be interpreted as religious and ethnic, rather than the defense of their property rights.

The plan will undermine the potential development of our economy because an internally divided territory automatically means a divided market.

The economic relations of the decentralized municipalities will be much closer with Serbia than the rest of Kosova.

Therefore, what will be known as Kosova’s single market will be much smaller than it is today (and today it is very small). A small market is not attractive to investors. Moreover, the internal division will cause severe difficulties to Kosova’s unified taxing system, while the lack of control of our borders will increase the possibility of goods smuggling. All this paints a bleak picture for Kosova’s future economy. Kosova needs a unified market and an integrated economy. To develop our economy for ourselves, and not for others, we need to be able to control our resources and to have political control over our economic affairs. The EU stands for integration. Yet it is planning a mission for Kosova’s segregation!

In sum, the Ahtisaari Settlement denies us ability to create a sovereign state with a functional central government. It proposes the division of Kosova into two ethnic entities, one Serb and one Albanian. The Serb entity will be de-facto controlled by Belgrade and the Albanian will be controlled by the EU and held hostage to Belgrade by mechanisms such as a double majority voting system for the Serb minority, which gives them the right to veto changes to the constitution and to a number of domestic laws. Belgrade will be guaranteed the ability to destabilize Kosova’s government at will. The plan denies Kosova the right to form and train an army capable of defending its borders, despite Serbia’s constant threats to our security. It denies us a sovereign and democratic future. It denies us freedom.

We want the right to decide about our political future ourselves. There are archives in London, Paris, Vienna and Berlin overflowing with records of international conferences in which foreign diplomats have drawn lines on maps and made decisions about the lives of other peoples. We hoped that this was from times past. But it seems that nothing has changed. Still sovereignty, democracy and freedom are the privilege of the few. Still Europe is ready to justify and explain why we do not deserve the right to be free.

• We call on you to recognize our right to self-determination and to allow us to democratically decide our political future through a referendum of all the people of Kosova.
• We call on you to recognize our fundamental right to be free and independent and to govern ourselves so that we can build a country that protects the rights and freedoms of all its citizens, and offers them a future.
• We call on you not to become the next in a long line of foreign occupiers of our home. By doing this, you will be betraying the principles on which your country and the EU are based, and you will be betraying the people of Kosova. We do not want to view you as an enemy, but as a friend.

www.vetevendosje.org , Prishtina, Kosova

[Arb]

Is there a European Islam?

This is my first visit to Albania and it is a fascinating, beautiful country: Tirana much more impressive than I had been led to believe; the run-down Durres tower blocks and shanties more in keeping with my preconceptions.

I am here to report on Albania’s reaction to the looming independence of Kosovo and my report will be on Radio Four and the World Service next week and I will link to it when it is ready.
But that is for another day.
Today, religion.
On the way up into the town of Kruja, perched on the side of a mountain, we stop at a small road side shrine, a Teke, a green-domed, white walled, small building.
Down a few stone steps is a neat little room, covered with small, Turkish-style rugs. But a little area of the floor is bare, and what looks like limestone.

There’s a hole, about eight inches deep and it doesn’t take much imagination to see it as a footprint.
The shrine’s guardian, 79 year-old Masmut Subashi, tells me this is the footprint of Sari Saltik .
Holy man
The holy man’s portrait hangs on one wall, robed, with long dark hair, his hands apparently resting on the hilt of a sword. Masmut tells me how he was taken to the shrine by his father as a small boy and now he tends to it. Then he tells me the story of the saint.
A nearby village was terrorised by a monster who demanded a human life every day. Sari Saltik cut off the monster’s seven heads and for 25 years lived in the large cave which the beast had inhabited.
When he left, he first stepped on this mountainside. His next foot print was a hundred miles away and his next in Crete .
He tells us that the legend is that Sari Saltik had a brother who was a Christian, St Anthony, who had his own cave not far from here.
Please don’t hold me to the highest standards of BBC accuracy on this one.

A Muslim saint, a Muslim portrait, acknowledging a Christian brother?
Well, yes, Albania is the headquarters of the Bektashi, a Sufi group.
Sunni Muslim
Muslims are said to make up 70% of the population in Albania, and most of them are not Bektashi, who are Shia, but Sunni.
It’s mildly curious to me that while some people argue Turkey shouldn’t join the European Union because most of its population is Muslim, I have never heard the same argument applied to Kosovo or Albania.
Perhaps it’s because they are so small. Perhaps it’s because, for many, the religion is only nominal. As I write this, in Albania’s capital Tirana , I can hear the call to prayer but the approach to religion seems much more European than the more profound attachments one may find in other parts of the world.
I hasten to add I am not just talking about Islam and the Middle East: America’s devoutness seems very shocking to many worldly Europeans.
Anyway while some websites warn that Albania could be a base for “extremism ” or “fundamentalists” there seems little sign of even moderate conservatism or devotion on the streets or indeed in the villages.
Not a headscarf in sight, let alone a hijab or burkha. Is there a European Islam that is as different from Wahhabism as the Church of England is from Baptists of the Bible Belt?
Is it to be found in these lands?
Rock-and-roll poet
Ervin Hatibi is a poet and intellectual, a Sunni Muslim, who became serious about his religion after living a rather rock-and-roll lifestyle.
While some, like the historian Bernard Lewis, argue that secularism is a specifically Christian phenomenon, Ervin says Islam has its own secularism and should not be seen as a monolithic whole.
“Everywhere Islam is different,” he says.
“As an everyday experience in the Balkans, for centuries it has created unique features. I consider Islam as part of the European landscape. It was for centuries. It kept changing, especially in Europe, the continent of continuous change.
“As a believer I may have fantasies about a society that moves towards certain values, and so will an Albanian Orthodox, or an atheist from a Muslim background or one of the new Protestant Christians, but we all have to live within an Albanian space.
“We have to live in harmony with the will of the majority and this is our culture, a more and more European and Western culture. It has something special that is not only Islam, but Ottoman and from the communist regime, so we have our special flavour that gives more beauty to the European experience and is not something dangerous.”
Is he right ? Could the much derided Ottoman Empire ,multi-ethnic and relatively religiously tolerant, have got something right in the Balkans?

[Arb]

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to be honoured by the University of Pristina

23 January 2008 Pristina

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is to be honoured by the University of Pristina this spring, University officials announced on Tuesday.

Mr Blair will be named Doctor Honoris Causa in recognition of his role during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

“This award is given to those who display distinctive merit in the promotion of knowledge, peace, security and human prosperity,” Pristina University Rector Enver Hasani told a meeting of the University Senate. Mr Blair, Hasani said, “is one of those personalities who meet the criteria for the award.”

Enis Halimi of the university's Public Affairs deparment told Balkan Insight that the date of the award ceremony has not been fixed yet since "the place and time will depend on Mr.Blair’s engagements.”

This Friday Albanian President Bamir Topi will receive the same honour from the university when he visits Kosovo.

Other well known figures who have been honoured by Pristina University include former US president Bill Clinton, Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, and former UN administrator in Kosovo and current French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

Tony Blair is popular among Kosovo Albanians for his contribution during and after the conflict with Serbia.

[Arb]

ANALYSIS: Catastrophic defeat of Yugoslavia to separatism

Belgrade - Forged as the home of mostly stateless southern Slavs in the aftermath of the Great War and forged again as an ethnic melting pot in the Second World War, the former Yugoslavia was vaporized by separatists the moment the mould was lifted. The country fell apart immediately after democratically elected authorities - dominated by separatists - replaced the Communist regime that had been pushing the late president Tito's concept of "brotherhood and unity" over the previous five decades.

The Socialist Federative Republic Yugoslavia - which was the longest lasting and best-known incarnation of the country during its 88-year lifespan - disintegrated in violent convulsions that started with the secession of Slovenia and Croatia in 1991.

Even before the process ended, the country half the size and population of Spain has spawned six new states, with the seventh on the way.

Five wars and 17 years later, separatism still torments three of the new states. Kosovo is splitting from Serbia, while partition along ethnic lines in Bosnia and Macedonia still cause concern.

Ethnically monolithic and small, Slovenia needed to fight just 10 days to win independence in mid-1991 despite being the first of the six Yugoslav republics to split.

Croatia, where come 12 per cent of the population, or 600,000 people, was Serb, had to fight the Yugoslav Army and a Serb insurgency until finally asserting its sovereignty in 1995.

Bosnia, an ethnic mix of the dominant Muslims, but also large Serb and Croat communities, was the scene of the most brutal among the Yugoslav wars and today remains divided.

Macedonia also declared independence in 1991, and was the only Yugoslav republic which did not have to fight for secession. But it did have to fight Albanian separatists a decade later to assert control over a large chunk of its territory.

Montenegro decided at some point in the later half of the 1990's that it did not want to be Serbia's sister republic in more wars and has started isolating itself first within the rump Yugoslavia, then even within a loose union of Serbia and Montenegro.

It took the tiny Adriatic republic eight years for a bloodless divorce from Yugoslavia with a referendum in 2006.

After that date, the largest of the former Yugoslav republics, Serbia, was left standing alone and had independence enforced upon it for the first time after 88 years of life in various unions. But a fresh status did not mark a refreshing start for the new country.

Most commonly blamed for the bloodshed is Serbia, which wanted the all Serbs united in a single country, though a fifth of them lived in Croatia and Bosnia.

With the Yugoslav military might under its control, Belgrade had spurred Serbs across the border into a war for their own secession, aiming to create a Greater Serbia - which remains a policy goal of the largest, ultra-nationalist political party in the country.

At the end of the day, Serbia and Serbs became the largest victim of Belgrade's appetite for territory - apart from lost lives and economic hardship, the country is on the verge of becoming the only ex-Yugoslav republic to diminish in size.

In Serbia's own heartland province of Kosovo, Albanian separatists seized the moment when Belgrade was weakened by wars, economic decline and unimportant to the international community because peace was safe in Bosnia and Croatia to step up their campaign.

After a decade of non-violent resistance to the increasingly harsh rule, Albanian extremists raised the stake and launched an insurgency in 1998, attacking police, soldiers and terrorizing Serbs civilians.

Serbia, which had been refusing to talk with moderate Albanian leaders, reacted with a heavy-handed, indiscriminate response of the army, police and feared paramilitaries.

Conflict and rumours of murder started an avalanche of Albanian refugees and drew NATO to bomb Yugoslavia in 1999 until Belgrade pulled its forces from Kosovo.

Now again in the focus, Kosovo is about to declare a split from Serbia with Western support. Backed by Moscow, Belgrade warns that recognizing Kosovo would boost separatist movements around the globe.

Though Kosovo may be looking at a very long diplomatic battle for a seat in the UN, the apparent success of Albanian separatists has been closely watched by nations with a potential problem, as Slovakia, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Romania in Europe alone.

But, to remain in former Yugoslavia, even in Kosovo separatists have already been working hard. Serbs in the Mitrovica enclave have established parallel structures with Belgrade's aid and refuse to work with the UN administration.

Partition is the word that has come into increased use in Kosovo affairs, either as a good solution or as an unthinkable mistake, depending whether a Serb or an Albanian speaks of it.

Serbs also say that if Kosovo Albanians should have the right to win their own state on the soil where they are a majority, then so should also Serbs in northern Kosovo and in Bosnia, where they control half of the country.

That would not be the end - Croats would ask for their chunk of Bosnia, but even more quickly would the Albanians in Macedonia and southern Serbia again ask to join their compatriots in a single state, which could again spark violence.

"Albanians live in four countries other than Albania," Kosovo's former premier Agim Ceku recently said. "If Kosovo is partitioned along ethnic lines, those would want to talk about uniting with Albania."

[Arb]

Kosovo's future hangs in balance
The international community “cannot afford to fail the people of the Balkans yet again” as Kosovo heads for independence, according to an expert at The University of Nottingham.

Professor Stefan Wolff, Director of the Centre for International Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution, School of Politics and International Relations, said Kosovo's future is crucial for stability in the Balkans and will set an important precedent for similar conflicts worldwide, from the Basque country and Northern Cyprus to the Caucasus, Iraq, and Taiwan.
The government of Kosovo is widely expected to declare independence in the very near future — in the teeth of strong opposition from Serbia and Russia. Formally a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999 after a Nato-led bombing campaign drove out Serb forces, who had been accused of persecuting Kosovo's majority ethnic-Albanian population.
International mediators have so far failed to persuade Serbia and Kosovo to agree on Kosovo's future status. The region's new government — led by a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Hashim Thaci — is now expected to declare a permanent parting of the ways from Serbia. The issue of Kosovo is also an important one for Serbia's development as a democracy, as it concludes its own presidential elections on February 3.
Professor Wolff has extensive research expertise in the settlement of ethnic conflicts and post-conflict reconstruction in deeply divided and war-torn societies and is an advisor on conflict resolution to governments and international organisations.
He said: “The way in which Kosovo gains its independence seems clear. Serbian, and Kosovo Albanian intransigence has made it impossible for a consensual solution to be achieved in negotiations. A new resolution in the Security Council confirming the conditions of Kosovo's independence is equally unlikely because of Russian opposition.
“Hence, a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo will be followed by recognition of Kosovo's independent statehood by the US, the EU and its member states, and by countries organised in the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.”
Professor Wolff said the three most immediate dangers of this scenario are:
· violence in Kosovo and increasing instability in the region,
· a split in the European Union,
· a further worsening of relations between the West and Russia.
He said: “Violence in Kosovo in the event of the region's declaration of independence is likely given the radicalisation of elements in both Serb and Albanian communities in Kosovo, the lack of trust and in many cases even contact between them, and the abundance of small arms and explosives.
The danger is initially less one of organised campaigns of violence strategically directed by political leaders in either community, rather than one in which demonstrations, celebrating or condemning independence, can turn into riots and escalate into prolonged inter-communal violence that is difficult to control and contain.
“Throughout the region, the potential for increasing instability must not be underestimated either. Albanian communities in southern Serbia could quickly find themselves to be the target of revenge attacks by Serbian extremists 'concerned' about the fate of their ethnic brethren in Kosovo. Elements within the large Albanian population in Macedonia might easily take a declaration of independence by Kosovo, and its subsequent international recognition, as an indication that the post-Yugoslav borders are far from set in stone.
“Renewed calls for independence by Albanians in Macedonia would pose a serious threat to the political stability of a country that is hoping to join NATO later this year alongside Croatia and Albania. Nor should it come as a surprise to anyone if Serbs in Bosnia would argue that they should have the same right to self-determination as Kosovo Albanians.
“The second immediate danger is a split in the EU. Several countries have serious domestic concerns about recognising Kosovo following a unilateral declaration of independence, among them Romania, Spain, and Slovakia. The most serious opposition can be expected from Cyprus, fearing that Kosovo would strengthen Turkish Cypriot claims to their own state — despite the fact that Turkish Cypriots accepted the Annan Plan for reunification in 2004, just before Cyprus's accession to the EU, unlike their Greek Cypriot counterparts.
“While the procedures for the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy now allow for 'constructive abstentions', that is, countries disagreeing with a particular Union position can abstain from voting rather than using their veto, the EU's ability to act in unity over Kosovo would be seriously undermined, and with it its aspiration to take the lead role in supervising Kosovo's transition to independent statehood.
“With the UN discredited among the local population after nine years of administering Kosovo, the EU potentially incapacitated because of a lack of unanimity, it might fall once again to the US to provide leadership. It is obvious that this would seriously undermine the credibility of any EU aspirations to take on a more global role in providing peace and security.”
Russia's position on Kosovo has remained unchanged, Professor Wolff said, in that it remains opposed to Kosovo's independence unless Serbia agrees and it has threatened 'serious consequences' if the West were to recognise an independent Kosovo against the wishes of Serbia. While it is unlikely that Russia would rush to recognise the independence of break-away regions in Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan, Western recognition of Kosovo in the face of clearly stated Russian opposition would do nothing to improve the anyway strained relations between the two.
This would further strain cooperation between the EU and NATO and Russia and put serious pressure on cooperation in the Security Council, he said — a situation that either side can ill-afford in a situation in which the crises in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, the shaky peace process in the Middle East, and the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea demand more than ever constructive and joint approaches among the major players in the international community.
Professor Wolff added: “Kosovo's independence is inevitable, and this fact, a reality on the ground for almost a decade, must finally be accepted. The possible negative consequences that it might entail are not automatic. They can be avoided if politicians in Prishtina and Belgrade, Skopje and Banja Luka, Nicosia and Brussels, Moscow, Washington and New York show vision, responsibility and leadership.
“Neither the international community nor local leaders can afford to fail the people of the Balkans yet again.”-University of Nottingham

[fadil]

INDEPENDENCE

Kosovo is ready

By Hashim Thaci
Independence is here. In close coordination with our U.S. and EU allies, my government and the Kosovo Parliament will declare it in days. We have negotiated with Belgrade and the international community for almost two years. Some progress has been made on some important issues, like the return of refugees, decentralization and cultural heritage. But we have failed to make any progress on the fundamental point, the future of Kosovo.
Now we are turning to a new beginning. An independent Kosovo is a fact. Serbia and Kosovo have a common future as two independent countries in the European Union. It is our goal to work closely with Serbia and other neighbors in order to receive the full benefits of regional cooperation and European integration. Kosovo is confident because we know we are headed toward the European Union. The re-election of President Boris Tadic suggests this is also Serbia's direction. This is a positive development for the region.
Kosovo has come a long way since 1999, when NATO intervened to stop Slobodan Milosevic. The United Nations Mission in Kosovo is a temporary set-up that has helped us build and develop our own institutional capacity. Kosovo is obliged to the good job done by the international community thus far, which made it possible for Kosovo to be ready for self-governance.
Moreover, we have a plan. First, we need independence declared and recognized. The phase of convincing is over. We have proved that we can be a responsible partner and are serious about a multi-ethnic future. The international community, except for a few countries, has come to understand and support our legitimate right to be an independent state. I am confident that Kosovo will be recognized by a majority of European countries and the United States immediately after we declare independence.
But we need more than independence. We need economic, social and political development. After independence we are responsible for Kosovo. This is a massive mental shift, which Kosovo will have to make very soon. The way we live from here on will depend on how well we manage development. Responsible governance is tied in principle to having a vision and the rule of law. My government is fully committed to this goal.
Hence, my third point: the need to chart a vision for Kosovo. First, there is the regional dimension. Kosovo will invest in becoming a link between Serbia, Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro. We have the geographic location to become a regional hub. We will upgrade our roads, airport and rail lines. We are eager to capitalize on the potential cargo trade. We are ready to invest in building logistic centers near Pristina, coupled with tax-free industrial parks.
Promoting open borders and the free flow of goods, capital and labor will be a priority of my government. This is also good news for our Serbian minority. We want our citizens to be able to travel freely, and to trade, first regionally, and later within the EU borders.
Kosovo Serbs are part of our system. We are ready to move with them to build a future founded on European values and European institutions.
My government's vision for integrating the Serbs is aligned with the proposals made in the Ahtisaari plan - we are committed to decentralization, affirmative action, property rights and favorable representation in the government for the Serbs, and to protecting the rights of Serbs to run their local affairs. I am determined to set up a special office for promotion of minority rights in my government.
The population of Kosovo is young, a major asset for a continent that faces a retirement crisis. With independence investor confidence should return. We are preparing a number of stimulants to attract businesses, including tax incentives, zero-tolerance on corruption, and promoting law and order.
Europe is welcomed in Kosovo. I say this on behalf of our citizens, who overwhelmingly endorse Kosovo's European future. Kosovo will be a success story if we are realistic and inclusive. We want reforms for the good of Kosovo. Independence and reform are our gateway to Europe.
Hashim Thaci is prime minister of Kosovo.

[Arb]

Why should anybody visit Kosovo these days and what would be the unusual things to deal with?
by Krenar Gashi
If you by any chance decide to come to Pristina these days, then first thing you will notice when entering the city from the airport is not going to be the huge Bill Clinton picture in the Bill Clinton Boulevard. Usually this would be the case. But these days, a strange well-designed red billboard will be the first object to drag your attention.

“20% discount for citizens of countries who recognise Kosova’s independence”, says a billboard of one of city’s hotels. Similar ones are placed all around the capital of the territory that is waiting to become an independent state in the upcoming days.


Pristina


Now, in Kosovo, days matters more than ever! Dates matter too! The Prime Minister Hashim Thaci claims that he knows the date when Kosovo’s Assembly will declare independence. Many citizens believe him. Some others don’t.

The counting down for independence, or for pavaresia as Albanians call it, has started in a very strange way: without knowing the deadline. But hey, everything about Kosovo is so unique. Sui Generis - the diplomats would say.

If by any chance you are about to visit Kosovo in the upcoming days, and YES - Kosovo is an interesting place to visit after all, you might find yourself into another sui generis trouble.

It has nothing to do with security issues, as everybody from the western world would probably assume. It’s much simpler indeed. You might not have a place to crash.

Lodging in Kosovo became a sudden problem. Tens of new, most of them jerry-built, hotels in Kosovo’s capital Pristina are full. In hotels which would never be using more than 10% of their capacities, one can hardly book a room nowadays.

And it’s not that hard to find out who these guests, coming out of blue, could be. In a small phone-based survey that a colleague of mine did, it appeared that about 90% of the guests in Pristina’s top five hotels are foreign journalists. And all of them are planning to stay in Kosovo at least between February 1st and 15th. Hum! Interesting!

Similar case happened on December 10th last year, the date that the international community had set as deadline for the negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia over Kosovo’s political status.

They came here, spent few days, and went home. Some of them were able to do some reports, but many others who were seeking for troubles, tensions, radical groups and bloodshed went home disappointed.

This time it will be different. Some journalists will be looking to report the independence happening, celebration, concerts, joy and fireworks, while others will be running after the so called CNN-images – stories of inter-ethnic clashes, Serbs fleeing Kosovo and dark side of independence.

But despite their aims and reports, they will be still using the hotels. Thus for, in case you’re one of those who would still like to come to Kosovo, you should either rush with your booking, either rely on an old traditional Albanian hospitality and decide to knock on somebody’s door at the last minute, asking for them to host you.

And if you reached this line in this blog, you should by now understand that Kosovo is the place to be in February. If you cannot find any better reason to come, just think of the fact that countries don’t become independent every day. Use this chance!

[Arb]

Kosova prepares for independence
It's not known exactly when Kosovo will declare its independence from Serbia, but speculation as to the date is running rife. Comments in the press are repeated endlessly in gossip in the street.

The people of the province await the day with differing emotions - some with joy, many with apprehension, others with nostalgia. Shops have been stocking up with souvenirs to mark the occasion.

In the capital Pristina, shelves are stacked with items printed with the red and black motif of the Albanian flag. Store owner, Faton Zeqiri, said shoppers are snapping up the goods and he's ordering more to keep up: "This week we've sold more than in past six months," he said. "It's all to do with independence."

Kosovo has never had a crest of its own, nor a constitution, anthem or flag, apart from one borrowed from Albania, stamped on a yellow star representing Albanian people in Yugoslavia.

In the lead up to the declaration of independence, a group of twelve experts has been working on filling the gap.

The Head of the Symbols Commission Fadil Hysa said: "We have made our selection based on suggestions from the international community that the flag and crest not contain any national symbols, like the eagle, and are not made up of only two colours, red and black, the symbols of Albanians."

But there's less excitement among Serbs in the province. After the war nearly 200,000 fled Kosovo. Those who stayed or returned are watching events with concern. Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci travelled to the Serb village of Rubovac to allay fears.

"My message to Serbs of Kosovo is to stay in Kosovo," Thaci said. "Kosovo is the country of everybody. We will respect them though affirmative action. I will stay with them, near them, for the best life to have in Kosovo for everybody."

It's a sentiment European leaders and supporters of independence affirm: Kosovo is to be multi-ethnic or not exist at all. The people of the province hope all the brave words are followed by actions.