By Douglas Hamilton
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Boris Tadic will be sworn in aspresident of Serbia on Friday, two days before Kosovo declaresindependence in Serbia's most traumatic moment since it wasbombed by NATO in 1999 to end ethnic-cleansing in the province.
In his oath of office, Tadic, 50, will "solemnly swear thatI will devote all my efforts to preserve the sovereignty andterritorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, includingKosovo and Metohija as its constituent part".
But on Sunday, Serbia already faces dismemberment with theloss of Kosovo, the mountain-ringed province steeped in Serbmyth but now home to 2 million Albanians, a 90 percentmajority.
Nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who haseclipsed pro-Western Tadic to become undisputed champion ofSerbia's unity, has told Serbs that Kosovo's breakaway is"about to become a reality" he can't stop but will neveraccept.
The West plans to recognise Kosovo because it says Serbiarelinquished the moral right to rule its people with thebrutality it used against them in 1998-99 under the lateSlobodan Milosevic, and because there is no hope of compromise.
Serbia and its ally Russia insist that the legal rights ofsovereignty and territorial integrity are paramount over anethnic minority's demands for self-determination.
Serbia has offered autonomy to Kosovo Albanians within Serbborders, but no role as full citizens. Belgrade's proposal isfor separate lives, a formula the West believes isunsustainable in the long term.
Kosovo has already been under United Nations administrationand NATO protection for nearly 9 years.
"OURS TO THE END"
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."
Russia's U.N. ambassador Vitaly Churkin argued "Milosevichas been gone for 10 years". But Western critics say Serbia hasnot done enough to repair the wreckage his policies inflictedon ethnic harmony in the former Yugoslav federation.
Hardline nationalism is still a powerful force in Serbia.No mainstream politician has taken the risk of conceding thatKosovo may have been effectively lost 9 years ago whenthousands of Albanian civilians were killed by Serb forces.
Nationalists have called for protests in Belgrade next weekagainst the United States and European Union. Tens of thousandsare expected to participate. Ambassadors were preparing towithdraw from EU embassies for consultations at home.
Russia warns that the West is letting a dangerous genie outof the bottle by supporting Kosovo's secession without U.N.approval. It says separatist movements the world over will takenote that they too may be able to seize independence.
Russia said on Friday international recognition of Kosovowould influence its policy towards Georgia's breakaway regionsof Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but did not say if it wouldrecognise them.
Western powers argue Kosovo is not a precedent but a uniquecase, brought about by the savagery of an autocracy towards anethnic minority.
Ethnic Albanians in the borderlands of Macedonia,Montenegro and south Serbia say they look forward to Kosovo'sindependence and discount concern that they too will attempt tosecede to create a "Greater Albania" in the Balkans.
But there are fears that the shockwaves of Yugoslavia'slong, slow and bloody collapse have not subsided yet. InBosnia, Serbs who won an autonomous half of the country in theDayton peace deal that ended the 1992-95 war say they too willdemand to secede if Kosovo gets its way.
(Editing by Caroline Drees)
