By Douglas Hamilton
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia swore in President Boris Tadicon Friday, two days before Kosovo proclaims independence, 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 this monthagainst a hardline nationalist candidate.
Kosovo, a mountain-ringed province, is steeped in Serb mythand now home to 2 million Albanians, a 90 percent majority.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who eclipsed pro-WesternTadic to become the undisputed defender of Serbian sovereignty,told Serbs on Thursday the loss of Kosovo was "about to becomea reality" that he could not stop, but would never accept.
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 under a cloud. Kostunicasays Serbia cannot pursue EU membership if EU states approveKosovo's secession, and an early election looks inevitable.
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 been under United Nations administration andNATO protection for nearly nine years. Its leader Hashim Thacisays 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".
Hardline nationalism is a powerful force in Serbia. Nomainstream politician has taken the risk of conceding Kosovomay have been effectively lost nine years ago when thousands ofAlbanian civilians were killed by Serb forces.
Only a few hundred attended a rally in Belgrade on Fridayto protest against the loss of Kosovo but nationalists say 1million will demonstrate next week.
Serbian ambassadors are preparing to withdraw from EUembassies 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.
"The diplomacy hasn't stopped. We continue our diplomacy,"U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "It's anemotional, sensitive issue, we understand that."
The United States believed "some form of supervisedindependence ... will lead to a more peaceful, a more stableregion", he said.
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.
"It is clear that the whole region is entering a sensitiveperiod and there are political groups and individuals who areready to spill the atmosphere of tension intoBosnia-Herzegovina too," Haris Silajdzic, the Muslim member ofthe three-man inter-ethnic Bosnian presidency, told a newsconference.
"The institutions in charge are ready to answer the call."
(Editing by Caroline Drees and Robert Woodward)
