By Douglas Hamilton
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia swore in President Boris Tadicon Friday two days before Kosovo proclaims independence, in thecountry's most traumatic moment since it was bombed by NATO in1999 to end ethnic cleansing in the province.
"I will never give up fighting for our Kosovo and I will,with all my might, fight for Serbia to join the EuropeanUnion," said Tadic, who narrowly won re-election earlier thismonth against a hardline nationalist candidate.
Kosovo, a mountain-ringed province, is steeped in Serb mythbut now home to 2 million Albanians, a 90 percent majority.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who eclipsed pro-WesternTadic to become undisputed defender of Serbian sovereignty,told Serbs on Thursday that the loss of Kosovo was "about tobecome a reality" that he could not stop, but would neveraccept.
Most EU members and the United States will recogniseKosovo. They say Serbia relinquished the moral right to ruleits people because of the brutality it used against them underthe late Slobodan Milosevic, and because there is no hope ofcompromise.
The EU and World Bank are preparing a donors' conference tounderwrite the development of the new state, probably in June.
But Serbia's EU aspirations are now under a cloud.Kostunica says Serbia cannot pursue EU membership if EU statesapprove Kosovo's secession, and an early election now looksinevitable.
Serbia and its ally Russia say the legal rights ofsovereignty and territorial integrity are more important thanan ethnic minority's demands for self-determination.
Serbia has offered autonomy to Kosovo Albanians within Serbborders, but no role as full citizens. The West believes thisformula is unsustainable in the long term.
Kosovo has already been under United Nations administrationand NATO protection for nearly nine years. Its leader HashimThaci says he can count on recognition by 100 countries.
"OURS TO THE END"
Prime ministers of both Kosovo and Serbia called for calmin the countdown to Kosovo's proclamation. Kostunica urgedKosovo's 120,000 Serbs to stay in the province and Kosovo'sHashim Thaci urged Serb refugees to return.
"I invite all those who want to, to return to their homesand their property, including displaced Serbs living outsideKosovo," he told a news conference.
"In Kosovo, there will be security for all citizens. Thegovernment is committed to looking forward to the future andovercoming the sad past."
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told the UnitedNations on Thursday Serbia would not use military force, but"all diplomatic, political, and economic measures ... to impedeand reverse this direct and unprovoked attack on oursovereignty".
Kosovo, he said, would be "ours to the end".
Hardline nationalism is a powerful force in Serbia. Nomainstream politician has taken the risk of conceding thatKosovo may have been effectively lost nine years ago whenthousands of Albanian civilians were killed by Serb forces.
Only a few hundred attended a rally in Belgrade on Fridayto protest the loss of Kosovo, but nationalists say one millionwill demonstrate next week. Serbian ambassadors are preparingto withdraw from EU embassies for consultations at home.
Russia says the West is letting a dangerous genie out ofthe bottle by backing secession without U.N. approval. The movewould influence its policy towards Georgia's breakaway regionsof Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Moscow said.
The West says Kosovo sets no precedent but is a uniquecase, caused by the savagery of a regime towards an ethnicminority.
Ethnic Albanians in the borderlands of Macedonia,Montenegro and south Serbia discount concern they too willattempt to secede to create a "Greater Albania" in the Balkans.
But the shockwaves of Yugoslavia's long and bloody collapsecould rumble on. In Bosnia, Serbs who won an autonomous half ofthe country in the peace deal that ended the 1992-95 war saythey too will demand to secede if Kosovo gets its way.
(Editing by Caroline Drees and Elizabeth Piper)
