Free Kosovo!. The people of Kosovo is ready to declare independence from Serbia on Sunday at a special session of parliament. Kosovo will be the sixth state carved from the former Serbian-dominated Yugoslav federation since 1991, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro. Serbs in the north of Kosovo will reject independence, fewer than half of Kosovo’s 120,000 Serbs live in the north, the rest are in scattered enclaves protected by NATO peacekeepers. The United States and most EU members will recognise Kosovo, despite failing to win a U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning the move. Snow blanketed Kosovo’s capital Pristina after a night of celebration with thousands of people pouring into the streets. Ten years ago, Serbian forces were fighting the kosovar uprising, murdering thousands of unarmed civilians (mostly women and children). The kosovars fought on until the West bombed Serbia into submission in 1999. Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo and the UN took over. Serbia says the mission is illegitimate and promised reprisals against the new state.
