Kosovo proclaims its independence

Kosovos’s parliament today declared the province’s independence from Serbia, a controversial secession backed by Washington and many European governments but opposed by Russia and its Serbian allies.

The declaration was immediately condemned by Serbia, which lost control of the province to U.N. supervision in 1999, when NATO bombing campaigns drove out Serbian forces attacking ethnic Albanian separatists.

Russia demanded an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, now scheduled for this afternoon in New York.

“Kosovo is a republic – an independent, democratic and sovereign state,” Jakup Krasniqi, Kosovo’s parliament speaker, said as the chamber burst into applause.

Krasniqi, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and President Fatmir Sejdiu signed the declaration, which was scripted on parchment, before the unveiling of a new national crest and a flag: a bright blue banner featuring a golden map of Kosovo and six stars, one for each of its main ethnic groups.

For Kosovo’s Albanians, statehood is the dream of generations. In advance of today’s announcement, signs in countless stores and businesses in downtown Pristina declared “Happy independence,” drivers honked their horns and people waved flags (American ones were especially popular), set off firecrackers and sang national songs. Restaurants offered free independence-day meals. Kosovo expatriates were returning in droves from other parts of Europe and the U.S.

“I have a very strange feeling of independence: Whenever I think of it, all my body shudders,” said Agron Mali, 25, a judiciary employee. “This is much more than any other holiday.”

But in the rest of Serbia, where Kosovo’s secession is seen as a violation of international law, the mood was grim and angry.

Several thousand Serbian nationalists rallied outside the Slovenian Embassy in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, on Saturday to protest European Union support of Kosovo’s independence. Slovenia holds the rotating EU presidency, making it a convenient target.

“Kosovo is the heart of Serbia,” demonstrators chanted before tacking a letter of protest to the embassy door.

“We used to look to the West as the ideal of freedom and justice,” said Visnja Ciric, one of two speakers at the Serbian rally. “But now, there is no end in sight to the EU’s hypocrisy and double standards.”

Although the EU is divided in its support for Kosovo statehood, the 27-nation bloc agreed early Saturday to deploy an 1,800-member “rule-of-law” mission in Kosovo that will gradually replace U.N. administrators over a 120-day transition period. The mission includes police, judges and others who are charged with supervising Kosovo’s new officials.

Serbia and Russia consider the EU mission illegal.

Kosovo has about 2 million people, 90% of them ethnic Albanian. The vast majority are Muslim, mostly secular and unabashedly pro-Western. Pristina has a main boulevard named for former President Clinton, who is revered here because he ordered the NATO airstrikes that drove out Serbian forces.

Serbia, a predominantly Orthodox Christian country that traces its cultural roots to Kosovo, argues that allowing the region to split away violates international norms. But supporters of independence argue that Kosovo, given the history, could never return to Serbian rule.

Behar Zogiani reported from Pristina and Zoran Cirjakovic from Belgrade. Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Madrid and Associated Press contributed to this report.