Kosovo declares split from Belgrade, Serbia rejects the move

The decision was adopted in coordination with the United States and major states of the European Union, but it is neither backed by a necessary UN Security Council resolution, nor by the larger part of the international community.

A display of fireworks in provincial capital Pristina ended a "historic" day in Kosovo, with local parliament adopting a "declaration of independence", signed by all Albanian deputies in the assembly.

"We, the democratically elected leaders of our people,  hereby declare Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state," province's Premier and former guerrilla leader Hashim Thaci said. "From today onwards, Kosovo is proud, independent and free."

"We never lost faith in the dream that one day we would stand among the free nations of the world, and today we do," Thaci said.

The Kosovo government sent 192 letters to world countries, urging them "to accept the new reality and recognize the new state".

No serious incidents have been reported from the celebrations that brought tens of thousands of Albanians into the Pristina streets late Sunday, but the international police and NATO troops warned that potentially dangerous ethnic tensions could lead to more trouble in coming days.

Belgrade responded swiftly to Pristina's move, immediately rejecting the unilaterally declared secession of its southern province, with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica strongly condemning the move, blaming the United States of violating the United Nations Charter and international law.

"The President of the U.S. is responsible for this violence together with his European followers and this will be a black mark in the Serbian history.," Kostunica said.

"The government will annul all documents that relate to the creation of a false state on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Serbia," Kostunica said in a televised address to the nation.

On a trip to Africa, President George W. Bush said the United States "will continue to work with our allies to the very best we can to make sure there's no violence."

"We also believe it's in Serbia's interest to be aligned with Europe and the Serbian people can know that they have a friend in America," Bush said.

However, in Belgrade, hundreds of angry protesters stoned the U.S. embassy and clashed will local riot police resulting in dozens of injured.

The Serbian leadership decided to convene the parliament shortly and to organize a big protest against the declaration of independence of Kosovo on Thursday.

Prime Minister Kostunica, Serbian President Boris Tadic and Tomislav Nikolic, leader of the largest opposition party Serbian Radical Party, decided at an emergency meeting to hold a parliament session as soon as possible to reaffirm Serbia's stand to annul the illegal declaration of secession of Kosovo.

Download PDF Document