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Flames issuing from the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday underscored the mounting rage in Serbia over Kosovo's Western-backed declaration of independence. The embassy was unguarded when several hundred demonstrators attacked, following a protest rally by hundreds of thousands of protesters. At that larger rally, held earlier, the sharp divisions that typify Serbian politics were nowhere to be seen, as leaders from across the spectrum united in a massive show of force to protest Kosovo's secession from Serbia. As banners bearing messages such as "Kosovo is Serbia" were hoisted, the country's leading politicians were joined by the likes of filmmaker Emir Kusturica. Even Australian open tennis champion Novak Djokovic beamed his support via video link.
But the protest turned deadly when several hundred hooded protesters broke away from that 500,000-strong crowd. The smaller group hurled rocks and molotov cocktails at the Croatian and U.S. embassies. Flames licked up to the second floor of the old brick building which is located in the heart of the capital. Serbian paramilitary police, arriving in Humvees, dispersed the crowd using tear gas. But firefighters later discovered a charred body in a lower room. The embassy had been largely empty at the time and it was not immediately clear whether the body was that of a protester or an embassy employee. Speaking at the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad condemned the attack, saying he would seek a U.N. resolution "reminding the Serb government of its rsponsibility to protect diplomatic facilities."

The procession had started at the Parliament, wending its way through damp Belgrade streets to the monumental St. Sava Church, the largest Serbian Orthodox church in the Balkans. There, high priests delivered "prayers for Kosovo." The former Russian dissident and Nobel Laureate Aleksander Solzhenitsyn sent greetings from his home in the U.S. state of Vermont, calling on Serbs to "stand by your graves." (Kosovo is the site of a famous defeat at the hands of the Ottomans that is deemed a cradle of Serbian identity.)

Thursday's demonstration follows a week of orchestrated outrage, during which, among other things, no fewer than ten McDonald's outlets were vandalized, and a local supermaket chain was targeted because of its Slovenian owners (Slovenia currently holds the rotating EU presidency), as were Albanian sweet shops and bakeries. (Albania has consistently supported the secession struggle of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.) More than 80 people were injured in those protests, most of them police.

In the Serb-dominated northern part of Kosovo, meanwhile, Kosovo Serbs descended on two border posts, torching one and blowing up the other, before NATO troops from the territory's 16,000-strong peacekeeping force arrived to take control of the posts. There were no casualties. Local Serbian leader Marko Jaksic, the head of the self-styled Serbian National Council in the northern town of Mitrovica, justified the attacks, saying that Serbs will not tolerate "symbols of a monster state" on their territory.

Serb anger was intensified by the European Union's decision this week to dispatch up to 2,000 civilian experts to help administer the newly declared state, a move that most Serbs see as a form of recognition because the mission will likely replace the United Nations–approved administration in the territory. (The EU failed to reach unanimity on the issue, leaving the decision up to its member states.) Serbia's ambassadors have been recalled from the U.S., France, and other countries that have recognized Kosovo's independence.

"We are struggling for what is legitimately ours. We will not tolerate this illegal act of secession," Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told European lawmakers in the French city of Strasbourg.

Although Kosovo's declaration of independence has been expected for months, the scale of the response — both among Serbs and by foreign governments opposed to the decision — has surprised many. It is not clear how long the protests will be sustained, but for many Kosovo Albanians, as well as U.N., EU and NATO officials in the territory, it has gone on long enough.

"Some local leaders took a huge responsibility yesterday," the French general in charge of NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo said on Wednesday after violent protests in northern Kosovo. "The leaders should think deeply of their responsibility when they trigger this type of demonstration."

But Serbs opposing Kosovo's independence will certainly take heart from the fact that Russia, China and a number of European Union members, including Cyprus, Spain, Romania and Slovakia, have refused to recognize the new state. Russia and China can block Kosovo's access to the United Nations and other multilateral organizations, and the refusal of some EU member states to recognize the country could complicate decision-making over the future EU mission in the territory. Opponents of independence fear that the move will set a dangerous precedent for separatists elsewhere, and Russia has been particularly vigorous in its opposition to what it sees as Western encroachment on its traditional sphere of influence.

The more immediate danger, however, is the prospect of a partition of Kosovo itself, and the potential confrontation that could ignite. The Serbian majority that lives in the northern part of the territory refuse to recognize the authority of the central government in Pristina, and insists on remaining part of Serbia. Belgrade supports the civil administration of that territory, and plans to increase spending on the Serb population there. While Belgrade said it did not order the attacks on border posts, Serbian Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic called them "legitimate" and "in accordance with the government's policy."

The impact of the Kosovo move on Serbia's domestic politics has been to strengthen the hand of nationalists who would like to see Serbia turn away from Europe and towards Moscow. The recognition of Kosovo by many European Union members, said Energy Minister Aleksander Popovic in a recent interview, could sour Serbs on the idea of joining the EU any time soon. Popovic likened the situation to a groom discovering something unsavory about his betrothed on the eve of marriage. "What do you do then?" he asked.

Don't make the mistake, when in Barcelona, of assuming you're in Spain: The locals in the enchanting Mediterranean coastal city, and the triangle-shaped territory around it, cite Catalan as their national identity. In conversations across the spectrum — young and old, leftist and right-wing, gay and straight, a retired couple near Tarragona and a Moroccan immigrant in Vic — the upcoming Spanish elections are discussed as if they're taking place in a foreign country. "For Catalonia, it is better if�" was how the typical response began. Here, road signs and restaurant menus are written in Catalan. It's also the language of public education, in schools where the national history of Catalonia is central to the curriculum, while Spanish is taught for two hours a week as a foreign language. The region, officially called an "autonomous community," has broad leeway in establishing political and social policy. But polls show that some 35% want full independence from Madrid.
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Nor are the Catalans the only regional nationalist movement pressing centuries-old linguistic, ethnic and historical claims on the forward-looking government in Madrid. In the Basque country, also endowed with extensive autonomy in the post-Franco era, separatist political sentiment remains ubiquitous, and terrorist actions by ETA continue.

And it's such long-standing fissures that pop up across the continent — many of whose modern nation states folded in diverse kingdoms and peoples — that shape Europe's responses to Kosovo's historic, and potentially precedent-setting, declaration of independence. Europe is divided over whether to recognize the new would-be nation on territory that has until now been recognized as part of sovereign Serbia. These divisions forced the European Union to leave it up to each member state to decide whether to recognize Kosovo's independence.

"The government of Spain will not recognize the unilateral act proclaimed yesterday by the assembly of Kosovo," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos promptly told reporters. "This does not respect international law." Similar opposition has been voiced from a list of smaller European countries that face internal independence movements of their own, or are longstanding allies of Serbia — or both: Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia have rejected Kosovo's independence. It's not hard to find motivation for their stance: The Republic of Cyprus, for example, fears that Kosovo independence will give weight to Turkish Cypriot claims for dividing up the island into two separate nation states. The Foreign Minister of Slovakia, which fears unrest from its large Hungarian minority, said it "does not see a way" to recognize a Kosovar nation state.

But Europe's major powers — Britain, France and Germany — have, like the United States, encouraged Kosovo's drive for independence, citing the unique circumstances of its breakaway from Serbia. Nearly 1 million ethnic Albanians were forced to flee Serb ruler Slobodan Milosevic's attempt to "cleanse" them from the Serbian province in which they constituted more than 80% of the population. In the wake of the U.S.-led war that expelled Milosevic's troops from Kosovo, the Serbs have refused to negotiate on the future status of the territory, which the international community acknowledged remained legally part of Serbia even when it was under NATO protection and U.N. administration.

For those who support Kosovo's claims for independence, it is largely a question of giving greater weight to the "on-the-ground" reality over the claims of Serbia to Kosovo as a cradle of their national identity. To opponents, however, the question is one of international law, national sovereignty and precedent. China, for example, reacted much like the Spanish and Slovaks, worried that Taiwan could be spurred to declare independence. Russia is invested on the Serbian side both for strategic and fraternal reasons. Wary of national claims in the Caucasus and elsewhere, Russian President Putin has loudly defended Serbia, which shares the same Orthodox Christian roots as Russia. Moscow also sees Kosovo as another case of NATO encroachment into traditional spheres of Russian influence, and will likely work with China to ensure that the new state is denied recognition at the United Nations.

But the issue is most volatile in in Europe, where the collapse of Yugoslavia reignited conflicts that date from the Crusades and the Ottoman advance into Europe — conflicts in which European leaders appeared incapable of intervening to stop repeated crimes against humanity. Last November, I went to Kosovo to visit Ramadan Ilazi, who was 14 when I'd met him during the war in a refugee camp in Macedonia. He supported Kosovo's independence for historical reasons, but mostly because he thought it was the best bet for a peaceful future. "I want the path with the least amount of conflict and violence, and independence is that way," said Ilazi, now 22. "There is no perfect solution. But the Balkans should work to strengthen Europe, not be a problem for Europe." The initial responses to Kosovo's independence, however, suggest that the Balkans will remain a problem for Europe for the foreseeable future.

Russia's ambassador to Nato, Dmitry Rogozin, has warned that Russia could use military force if the Kosovo independence dispute escalates.

"If the EU develops a unified position or if Nato exceeds its mandate set by the UN, then these organisations will be in conflict with the UN," he said.

In that case Russia would "proceed on the basis that in order to be respected we need to use brute force", he said.

Many EU members have recognised Kosovo, but several oppose recognition.

Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, backs Serbia, which has condemned the independence declaration issued by the Kosovo parliament on 17 February.

On Tuesday members of the Serb minority in Kosovo attacked two border posts staffed by UN personnel and Kosovo police.

The violence led the Nato troops in Kosovo - known as K-For - to reinforce the border with Serbia.

Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians are following a plan drawn up by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari for "supervised independence", which was rejected by Serbia.

Russian media outcry

The EU will soon deploy 2,000 officials to strengthen law and order in Kosovo, which has a population of about two million. Russia argues that the mission has no legal basis.

There has been a furious reaction in some Russian media to Kosovo's declaration of independence.

A commentary in the Vesti Plus analytical programme, on state-run television, called the assassinated former Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, a Western puppet who had "received a well-deserved bullet".

It said Djindjic had sold national heroes to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.

The programme concluded that Serbia - and not only Serbia - must now decide whether to acquiesce in what has happened, or resist.

Hopes for a peaceful conclusion to the declaration of Kosovo's independence were fading as the European Union announced it had withdrawn its staff from the north of the fledgling country in the face of increasingly angry Serb protests.

The civilian staff were meant to be preparing for the EU to take over responsibility for security in Kosovo from the United Nations.
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The announcement of the withdrawal came as the United States - which backed Kosovo's drive for independence - began to evacuate its American staff and their families from Serbia, offering US citizens the chance to join a convoy of 40 cars leaving Belgrade for Croatia.

"We are not sufficiently confident that they are safe here," said US ambassador Cameron Munter. On Thursday protesters stormed and burned the US embassy in Belgrade. A week after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Kosovan capital Pristina to celebrate the country's unilateral declaration of independence, Kosovo is already effectively partitioned.

The mostly Serb-populated northern region around the divided town of Mitrovica, next to the Serbian border, has made it clear that it wants no part of the newborn country that Serb officials consider "illegal". The bridge on the Ibar River that divides the Albanian and the Serb parts of Mitrovica has been closed to traffic, guarded by UN police and Nato on one side, and Serb strongmen on the other.

At the same time, KFOR, the Nato-led peacekeeping force, sealed the border to Serbia, after angry mobs torched border crossings. "This is a beginning of a secession of the northern part of Kosovo," Oliver Ivanovic, a Kosovo Serb leader from Mitrovica, told The Sunday Telegraph. "I fear it will lead to attacks on the remaining Albanians living in northern Mitrovica to force them to flee across the river.

The Albanians would then retaliate on the Serbian enclaves throughout Kosovo, and the ethnic cleansing will be completed under the eyes of the international community." According to Mr Ivanovic, while the Serb government officially pledges never to accept Kosovo's independence, some individual officials and their political groups are quietly orchestrating the secession. He himself was sidelined as a moderate leader and his influence diminished as the situation escalated and Belgrade-sponsored extremists won the upper hand.

Yesterday Peter Feith, the EU's Kosovo envoy, said security concerns were behind the withdrawal of his staff from northern Kosovo. They had been preparing the ground for a 2,000-strong EU rule of law mission. "I would like to appeal to the Serb community to be generous and to turn the page and look forward to working together with us," he said. "We hope that conditions will soon allow us to resume our activities."

Slobodan Samardzic, the minister for Kosovo in the Serb government, deemed the attacks on the border crossings "legitimate" and said they were in "accordance with the Serbian government's policy." Britain, the US and other Western countries have recognised independent Kosovo as a sovereign state, prompting criticism from countries such as Russia, a staunch Serb ally, but also China and some EU members, notably Spain, who claim the move to be a dangerous precedent that would weaken the rule of international law and encourage separatist movements across the world.

In the Serb part of Mitrovica, anti-independence rallies have been held every day since the independence declaration last Sunday, in an atmosphere of increasing tension and lawlessness instigated by Belgrade-paid agitators. Serbian government officials address the angry crowds as rocks, bottles and fireworks are being hurled at the UN police guarding the bridge, while thugs in track suits and leather jackets cruise the town as self-appointed guardians of security.

Officers of the Kosovo Police Service (KPS), the multi-ethnic police force which serves in northern Mitrovica, said they will no longer take orders from Pristina following the independence declaration and have vowed to swap their uniforms for those of the Serbian police. "I did not join the force to serve an illegal Albanian state. The capital of my state is Belgrade, as stipulated by the United Nations Resolution 1244.

I will soon change this uniform for a Serbian one and continue to serve my people," a KPS officer serving in Mitrovica told the Sunday Telegraph under the condition of anonymity. On the street dotted with Serbian and Russian flags and banners with anti-independence slogans, the police officer was engaged in a cordial conversation with one of the thugs known as 'bridge watchers', whose job is to make sure no Albanian crosses the bridge. He said: "We will not create incidents but we will not tolerate any form of Albanian rule. This is and it will always remain Serbia. We may be small, but we have the full support of Serbia and Russia. And we have weapons, should we be forced to protect ourselves."

Russia has already threatened to use force in Kosovo, and Serbia has sent dozens of busloads of protesters to support the rallies in the north. But following several days of unrest, KFOR decided to seal the border and halt the influx of potential protesters from Serbia. "We have issued orders not to let buses through or any individuals who could pose a potential threat to the security of Kosovo. We are also fully able and ready to prevent any clashes between Serbs and Albanians, "a KFOR spokesperson said.

Indeed, dozens of armoured vehicles and tanks have been deployed at key points in the border region, after Belgrade officials announced that they would march into Kosovo in their thousands — albeit for peaceful rallies. "KFOR troops are trained and well-equipped to answer any challenges coming from inside or outside of Kosovo," a radio advertisement, paid for by KFOR, warns Serbian listeners.

But Mr Ivanovic, is sceptical. "In case of real clashes KFOR will first protect themselves and then come to count the causalities. The Serbs here have access to weapons, and I know that the Albanians living on this side of the river have recently been armed. "I see no reason for optimism."

Albanians did not make it a government policy to annihilate every living Serb in existence,

More specifically, for the last going on 20 years, it has been Serbian government policy to kill everyone that gets in the way of "Greater Serbia", or have you forgotten Milosivec's gang?

As it happens, I DO sing the same tune regarding Taiwan, and a few other would-be breakaway states I could mention.

Cyprus is a weirder situation than the one above that I know insufficient amounts about to speak to,

but when your alternatives are "annihilation" and "independence",

The man tipped to succeed Vladimir Putin as Russian president is due in Serbia, as the two countries continue to oppose Kosovan independence.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is travelling to the capital, Belgrade, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The Russian foreign ministry has accused the United States of "flagrant cynicism" in recognising Kosovo's declaration of independence a week ago. The issue sparked protests in Belgrade last week.

Correspondents say that, with Mr Medvedev the favourite to win next month's presidential election in Russia, the high-powered nature of Russia's delegation is a sign of the strength of the country's backing for Serbia.

He and Mr Lavrov are scheduled to hold talks with Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

See a map of Kosovo's ethnic breakdown

"Do support for the Kosovo Albanian side alone, contempt for law for the sake of so-called 'political expediency', and indifference to the fate of 100,000 Serbs who... are effectively being driven into a ghetto, not amount to flagrant cynicism?" Russia's foreign ministry asked in a statement on Sunday.

The statement followed a comment by US Assistant Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who accused Russia of aggravating tensions over the Kosovo issue.

Border posts row

Also on Monday, Belgrade government ministers are due to visit Serbian communities in Kosovo to press their message that Belgrade still regards Kosovo as its own.


A Serb nationalist shouts at a K-For soldier at protest in Kosovo
Serbs have turned against those who recognise the new Kosovo

EU fired up by Kosovo
Anger mounts in Mitrovica
Serbian Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic will lead the delegation.

But reports suggest Mr Samardzic will be denied entry until he apologises for comments seemingly condoning violence.

Mr Samardzic described the burning down of two border posts on 19 February by crowds of Kosovan Serbs as "legitimate" acts.

Two days later, western embassies were attacked in Belgrade, acts which Mr Samardzic blamed on the US for accepting Kosovo's declaration of independence last Sunday.

"The US is the major culprit for all troubles since 17 February," Mr Samardzic told the state news agency Tanjug.

"The root of violence is the violation of international law."

Well-informed sources have suggested Mr Samardzic will be asked to apologise for these comments before being allowed into Kosovo, says the BBC's central Europe reporter Nick Thorpe.

Mitrovica fears

Kosovo remained calm on Sunday, and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci marked the first week of independence with a visit to the grave of Kosovo's late president, Ibrahim Rugova.

Mr Thaci used the occasion to call on Kosovo's Serbian minority to integrate.

But the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica was bracing itself for more tension.

Albanian staff have been prevented from returning to work at the town's UN-administered court on safety grounds, while Serbs who used to work there are demanding their old jobs back.

Any attempt by the Serbs to use force to occupy the building would be a test of UN resolve to maintain at least a semblance of multi-ethnic administration in the troubled northern town, says our correspondent.