Kosovo begins countdown to independence

Kosovo took another step towards announcing its independence today by creating a government office to handle the concerns of Serb minorities.

The move was seen an attempt to ease tensions before the province’s declaration of independence from Serbia, widely expected to be on Sunday.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said the new Cabinet-level office would report to him daily on minority issues.

“No citizen will be discriminated upon or feel left aside,” he promised.

About 90% of Kosovo’s two million people are ethnic Albanian, and most minority Serbs live in isolated enclaves and feel unprotected and vulnerable.

Western capitals support Kosovo’s statehood, but Serbia has allied with Russia in trying to prevent any move that would allow Kosovo to secede.

Nato peacekeepers have stepped up security measures in the province, setting up check points in an effort to deter any violence. The 16,000-strong force has also increased visibility in the northern, Serb-dominated part of the province.

In the stronghold of Kosovska Mitrovica several thousand Serbs met and pledged to reject the Albanian independence declaration and set up own parallel institutions.

The province’s Serb leaders also urged calm and patience, but said they would organise protests on Monday in several Serb-held towns throughout the province.

“The monster state will never be imposed and grow here,” said Marko Jaksic, a Kosovo Serb leader.

The Serbs also objected to a planned EU takeover of the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, saying they would consider its arrival an “act of occupation.”

Serbia’s president said today the country will downgrade, but not break, diplomatic relations with any government that recognises an independent Kosovo.

“Bilateral ties (with countries that recognise Kosovo) most certainly would not be of the quality and level they are today,” Boris Tadic said. “But, if Serbia decides to withdraw its ambassadors, it does not mean it would stop communicating with those countries or cut ties with those countries.” Earlier the government warned they would “obstruct and boycott” the work of the EU’s replacement police and justice mission.

The Kosovo Serbs said they would co-ordinate with the Serbian government in Belgrade to organise elections for their own local authorities and parliament on May 11, when the rest of Serbia holds municipal elections.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since the 1999 Nato bombing campaign ended a brutal crackdown by Serb troops against separatist ethnic Albanians.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon advised staff in Kosovo to stay away from events and celebrations linked to an independence declaration in order to preserve the mission’s neutrality.

UN staff “should not be present at public events surrounding such a declaration of independence ... or risk being the subject of disciplinary” action, Ban said today.

Meanwhile EU diplomats and officials were bracing themselves for a potentially turbulent weekend of talks seeking unity among the bloc’s 27 nations over how to respond to Kosovo’s expected declaration.

Officials from Slovenia, which holds the EU presidency, said they were working on a declaration that would commit the EU to eventually offering membership and long-term aid to both Serbia and Kosovo.

EU foreign ministers were expected to sign the declaration on Monday in Brussels, with the hope that it helps ease tensions with Balkan capitals and improves the EU’s tattered relations with Belgrade.