In response to the anticipated declaration, Serbia has asked for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday to discuss "the extremely grave situation" in Kosovo, according to a report that was carried Wednesday by Novosti, the Russian News and Information Agency.
The Security Council plans to consider Serbia's request for an emergency meeting on Wednesday, the agency said.
Russia "categorically opposes the unilateral independence" of Kosovo, the news agency said. The new Serbian president, Boris Tadic, also opposes Kosovo's independence.
In an essay published Wednesday in the Kosova Press, a news agency, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci of Kosovo said that he expects Kosovo's parliament to declare independence "in the coming days."
European Union officials expect Kosovo to declare its independence on Sunday, Novosti reported.
Kosovo is a province of Serbia that has been under United Nations control since shortly after NATO warplanes forced out Serbian forces in 1999.
Despite the harsh words from opponents, analysts say they don't expect violence. Serbia's displeasure at an independent Kosovo is tempered by its president's ambition to join the European Union, which supports independence, and regional neighbors such as Albania and Macedonia who are cautious.
Observers have anticipated Kosovo's independence for months, ever since two years of U.N-sponsored talks to determine Kosovo's final status ended without agreement.
The pace accelerated last month when Kosovo's assembly approved former guerrilla leader Thaci as prime minister. He made declaring independence his top priority, and last weekend, Thaci said he had finally set a date.
"This weekend will be the last one before Kosovo declares independence," Thaci said Saturday.
Indicating it expected an imminent declaration, the European Union was finalizing plans to send an 1,800-member security and justice force to Kosovo, an EU official said Monday. The force, approved by EU leaders in December, will gradually take over from U.N. police and also will include judicial and legal personnel.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority will be under close scrutiny after independence, especially about honoring the rights of the Serbian minority, who currently live in enclaves protected by NATO forces. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo outnumber other ethnic groups, the largest being the Orthodox Christian Serbs, by about 9 to 1.
Protected Serbs have expressed fears of being further cut off from Kosovar society, and some even talk of leaving Kosovo altogether.
But Kosovo Albanians say memories of their persecution at the hands of the Serbs in the late 1990s are too fresh to reciprocate, and analysts say they're not likely to.
"The one thing the U.N. and the Kosovar government have done very well is stressing the right of the remaining Serbs to remain in place," said Tomas Valasek, director of foreign policy and defense at the Center for European Reform in London.
Valasek said the United Nations, which has administered Kosovo since 1999, has worked closely with Kosovo on a policy of "standards before status," making sure the government adheres to international standards -- such as protecting minorities -- before it can declare independence.
Serbian fears may be justifiable, Valasek said, in part because Thaci is the former political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which rose up against Serb rule at the end of the last decade. But he said Thaci has worked hard to address the concerns.
"I think (Thaci) genuinely wants to be seen as the leader of a country rather than an ethnic guerrilla," Valasek said.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/13/kosovo.independence/index.htmlJPTF 2008/02/13
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