Britain to recognise independent Kosovo

Britain was this evening poised to recognise the independence of Kosovo, as the Balkan province prepares to break away from Serbia tomorrow.

Kosovan capital Pristina was today filled with ethnic Albanians celebrating the declaration of independence, which is due to be formally declared on Sunday, in the latest stage of the slow fragmentation of the former Yugoslavia.

But there are concerns that Kosovo’s unilateral secession from the Serb Republic may cause a flare-up in tension, and some 600 British troops are on stand-by to fly there in the event of violence breaking out.

The Foreign Office today said it was clear that the status quo in Kosovo was “unsustainable” and restated Britain’s support for a “supervised independence” plan put forward last year by United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband will attend a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday at which some EU nations – expected to include Britain, France and Germany – will recognise Kosovo’s sovereignty.

About 60 British police officers and judicial experts will be among a 1,800-strong EU mission to help Kosovo’s leadership with security, legal and customs issues after the breakaway from Serbia.

The EU’s decision today to send the mission was denounced by Belgrade as “shameful”. Cabinet minister Slobodan Samardzic insisted that Kosovo - regarded by Serbs as the historic heartland of their nation – remained “an inalienable part of Serbia”.

The US is also expected to recognise an independent Kosovo early next week. But it will be opposed by Serbia’s traditional ally Russia, along with EU states Spain, Romania and Greece.

Kosovo’s prime minister Hashim Thaci said earlier this month that about 100 countries were ready to recognise the province’s independence as soon as it was declared. But Moscow’s veto at the UN Security Council, which meets in New York on Tuesday, stands in the way of general international acceptance of the new state for the foreseeable future.

Kosovo has been under UN administration since the 1999 Nato bombing campaign drove out Serbian troops. While Serbia’s formal sovereignty is internationally recognised, Belgrade has little or no practical involvement in the governance of the province.

International talks on Kosovo’s final status began in 2006 under the chairmanship of special envoy Ahtisaari, but the process appeared to have hit a brick wall when the parties missed a deadline for agreement in December last year.

A Foreign Office spokesman today said: “We are working with our international partners in the EU and UN to bring the Kosovo status process rapidly to completion.

“One thing is clear – the status quo is unsustainable, so Kosovo’s status will need to be resolved without delay.

“We have made it clear that in the absence of agreement between the parties, we see the UN special envoy’s proposal for supervised independence as the best way forward.”

Britain currently has around 145 troops in Kosovo as part of the 15,000-strong Nato-led Kfor peace-keeping force.

A further 600 members of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards will be sent to the new state if widespread civil unrest follows its split from Serbia.

The soldiers make up the current Nato Response Force which is tasked with assisting Kfor if numbers on the ground are deemed to be insufficient to contain ethnic violence.

Nato’s Response Force rotates its host country every six months, with the UK having taken over the post on January 1.

Equipment including troop carriers and other armoured vehicles have also been earmarked for deployment.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The UK continues to meet its commitments to the Nato Pan-Balkans quick reaction force alongside our Nato partners.

“This is in case Nato requires a force with extra flexibility to deter or combat outbreaks of violence.”

An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians and 3,000 Serbs died during the 1999 conflict. Many Serbs fear that independence will leave them vulnerable to reprisal attacks and to attempts to “ethnically cleanse” them from a province where they once formed a majority.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said the key to a successful split was persuading Kosovo’s Serbs that they will be safe.

“The key to the long-term success of this experiment is to show ordinary Serbs that they have nothing to fear and everything to gain from Kosovo’s independence,” said Mr Davey.

“Britain and the EU must continue to show the Serbs the economic carrots of access to Europe’s markets and investment against the political stick of isolation if the nationalist path of hostilities is revisited.”