PRISTINA, Kosovo - The United States formally recognized Kosovo's independence Monday, and Europe's major powers said they would do the same, setting up a confrontation with Serbia and its key ally, Russia.

Kosovo's leaders had sent letters to 192 countries Monday seeking formal recognition of independence, and suspense gripped the capital as its citizens awaited backing from the key powers.

But the United States formally recognized Kosovo's independence in a statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and President Bush said, “The Kosovars are now independent.”

Serbia responded by recalling its ambassador to Washington.

The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany and Italy said those nations also would recognize Kosovo.

"A majority of (European Union) member states will recognise a democratic, multi-ethnic Kosovo founded on the rule of law," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after talks among EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Tension as Serbs protest
A day after Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership made its historic declaration of independence from Serbia, tensions flared in northern Kosovo, home to most of the territory's 100,000 minority Serbs. An explosion damaged a U.N. vehicle outside the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica, where thousands of Serbs demonstrated, chanting "this is Serbia!"

The crowds marched to a bridge spanning a river dividing the town between the ethnic Albanian and Serbian sides. They were confronted by NATO peacekeepers guarding the bridge, but there was no violence.

Another 800 Serbs staged a noisy demonstration in the Serb-dominated enclave of Gracanica outside Pristina, waving Serbian flags and singing patriotic songs.

"Our obligation is to stay in our homes and live as if nothing happened yesterday," protester Goran Arsic said.

In a first sign that Serbia was attempting to retake authority in the north of Kosovo, some Serb policemen started leaving the multiethnic Kosovo police force on Monday and placed themselves under the authority of the Serbian government in Belgrade, a senior Kosovo Serb police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

There were about 320 Serb policemen in the U.N.-established force. The departure of Serb policemen in the force would likely trigger a confrontation with the U.N. administration.

‘It will be a big day’
President Fatmir Sejdiu played down the fears of renewed unrest, saying the government needed to set about the business of building a democratic country.

"It will be a big day today because we have lots of things that we need to start and finish," Sejdiu said Monday. "We need continuous work and commitment, and we are fully dedicated to fulfilling the promises to better our state."

On Sunday, lawmakers achieved what a bloody 1998-99 separatist war with Serbian forces could not: They pronounced the disputed province the Republic of Kosovo, and pledged to make it a "democratic, multiethnic state."

The proclamation sent thousands of jubilant ethnic Albanians into the streets overnight, where they waved red-and-black Albanian flags, fired guns and fireworks into the air and danced. One couple named their newborn daughter Pavarsie — Albanian for "independence."

Passersby stopped to scribble names and messages on a sculpture spelling out "NEWBORN" in giant iron letters across from the U.N. headquarters in central Pristina.

And the republic's new flag — a blue field featuring a yellow silhouette of Kosovo and six white stars, one for each of the main ethnic groups — fluttered from homes and offices.

"This is the happiest day in my life," said Mehdi Shehu, 68. "Now we're free and we can celebrate without fear."

Kosovo had formally remained a part of Serbia even though it has been administered by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists, which killed 10,000 people.

Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanian — most of them secular Muslims — and they see no reason to stay joined to the rest of Christian Orthodox Serbia.

Serbia to try blocking U.N. membership
The 192 letters included one to Serbia, but the Belgrade government made clear it would never accept Kosovo's statehood. On Monday, Serbia said it would seek to block Kosovo from gaining diplomatic recognition and membership in the United Nations and other international organizations.

"The so-called Kosovo state will never be a member of the United Nations," Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said.

Russia also rejected the declaration and persuaded the U.N. Security Council to meet in emergency session Sunday in an attempt to block Kosovo's secession. The council was to meet again later Monday.

The European Union and NATO, mindful of the Balkans' turbulent past, appealed for restraint and warned that the international community would not tolerate violence.

In Tanzania, Bush told the TODAY show's Ann Curry that the people of Kosovo were now independent.

"It's something that I've advocated along with my government," Bush said.

“We'll watch to see how the events unfold today. The Kosovars are now independent," he added.

To combat critics that say the U.S. is encouraging other separatist movements, Rice's statement described Kosovo as a "special case" and said an "unusual combination of factors" have led to the U.S. recognition. Those included the context of Yugoslavia's breakup, the history of ethnic cleansing and crimes against civilians in Kosovo, and the extended period of UN administration

Now that it has formally recognized Kosovo, the U.S. will move to establish diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The statement also asks that Serbia cooperate with the U.S. and other countries to protect the Serb community in Kosovo.

Kosovo is still protected by 16,000 NATO-led peacekeepers, and the alliance boosted its patrols over the weekend in hopes of discouraging violence. International police, meanwhile, deployed to back up local forces in the tense north.

Some EU members oppose separation
Sunday's declaration was carefully orchestrated with the United States and key European powers, and but the EU was far from united during the meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday.

Spain and Slovakia called Kosovo's move illegal.

"Slovakia does not see a way to recognize Kosovo," Foreign Minister Jan Kubis said. Slovakia, with its sizable Hungarian minority, fears Kosovo's move will feed its own ethnic tensions.

However, he said Slovakia welcomed EU assurances that Kosovo's secession was a rare case.

Foreign ministers agreed Monday that Kosovo deserved a rare exemption from international law, saying its unilateral declaration was justified by Belgrade's oppression and Serb leaders' rejection of a negotiated final status for the region.

That statement made it possible for some EU nations to recognize Kosovo's independence as an exception to the rule of "territorial integrity" of nations under international law.

Seventeen other member states will "move quickly" to back Germany, France and Britain, Steinmeier said.

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said she would ask for authorization Wednesday to formally recognize Kosovo, the Austrian Press Agency reported.

The Czech Republic said it needed time. "The EU will be like a cycling pack. Some countries will move quickly, some will need several weeks," said Czech European Affairs Minister Alexandr Vondra.

Spain said earlier that it would not recognize Kosovo's independence.

"The Spanish government is not going to recognize the unilateral act proclaimed yesterday by the Kosovar assembly," Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said.

"We're not going to recognize it because we don't consider that it respects international law," he said.

Spain's opposition to Kosovo's independence is rooted in the fear that independence-minded regions in Spain -- notably the Basque area -- may similarly secede.

Greece, Romania and Cyprus also are against Kosovo's new status. In Bucharest, President Traian Basescu called Kosovo's declaration "an illegal act."

Showdown looming
By sidestepping the United Nations and appealing directly to the United States and other nations for recognition, Kosovo's independence set up a showdown with Serbia — outraged at the imminent loss of its territory — and Russia, which warned that it would set a dangerous precedent for separatist groups worldwide.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that independence without U.N. approval would set a dangerous precedent for "frozen conflicts" across the former Soviet Union, where separatists in Chechnya and Georgia are agitating for independence.

Serbia's government ruled out a military response as part of a secret "action plan" drafted earlier this week, but warned that it would downgrade relations with any foreign government that recognizes Kosovo's independence.

 

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23219277/