After the Revolution

Have you ever seen a country being born?

The Prime Minister of Kosovo declared Kosovo “independent, sovereign and free“ in a session of Parliament today.

To watch the BBC’s video of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci reading the declaration of independence from Serbia to the Parliament, click here.

But to watch the party outside, click here.

Mark Mardell described it in his blog:

“The streets of Pristina have been filled with people cheering and shouting, with cars honking their horns in a continuous cacophony.

“They drive round and round draped in flags, young men perched precariously on the roofs jiggling up and down with joy. In the midst of mayhem, an old man closes his eyes and reverentially kisses a scarf emblazoned with the word ‘Kosovo.’”

In Parliament, Thaci said:

“I ask from you to speak to your children and to your grandchildren and to your nephews and nieces and to explain the meaning today. It has been a long journey of sacrifices. 

“…We are creating the new history in front of us… We are becoming an equal part of the democratic world.”

International response

Not everyone is so happy. The East and the West are divided on the issue of Kosovan independence. 

The United States and most countries in the European Union have indicated they would support an independent Kosovo.

Russia and Serbia have made it clear they would not.

This broadcast from Russia Today explains the concerns of some countries that Kosovan independence will spark new conflict in other breakaway republics, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia.

Watch it for a good, concise history of South Ossetia.

Thaci described the declaration as the final step in the dissolution of Yugoslavia. (To see a BBC timeline of events for Yugoslavia, click here.)

The background is long and bloody, but let me give you the basics. 

The boundaries of Yugoslavia, originally called “The Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes,” were first drawn at the end of World War I.

By the end of World War II, Yugoslavia included Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia. Two provinces in Serbia were given autonomous status: Vojvodina and Kosovo.

These regions had not been united during the fighting of World War II, but rather had committed atrocities against one another.

Ethnic groups had fought in civil wars. Croatian fascists had welcomed invading Germans and set up concentration camps. Serbs, Jews, Roma and anti-fascist Croats were killed.

By 1992, during the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Yugoslav Federation also began to fall apart. Bloody conflict between countries and ethnic groups recommenced as Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia declared independence.

In 1998, the Kosovo Liberation Army, supported by ethnic Albanians who make up the majority of the country, rebelled against Serbian rule.

The ethnic conflict resulted in two NATO airstrikes in 1999 and the forced expulsion by Serb forces of tens of thousands of Kosovan Albanian refugees.

Kosovo became a United Nations protectorate. Many ethnic Albanians returned to their homes, and many ethnic Serbs fled.

To see Kosovo’s current ethnic breakdown, click here.

In today’s declaration, Thaci stated that all residents of Kosovo, no matter their ethnic background, are to be considered equal citizens.

Other countries including the United States are expected to declare their support for independent Kosovo tomorrow.