By Douglas Hamilton
PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo Albanians will proclaimindependence from Serbia on Sunday, ending a long chapter inthe bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.
Kosovo will be the 6th state carved from the Serb-dominatedfederation since 1991, after Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia,Bosnia and Montenegro, and the last to escape Serbia's embrace.
The Serbs vow never to çive up the land where their historygoes back 1,000 years.
They will reject independence in defiance of the Albaniansand their Western backers and will keep their grip onstrongholds in northern Kosovo, making the ethnic partition ofthe new state a reality from the start.
"The influence of Belgrade has ended," Kosovo PrimeMinister Hashim Thaci said. "The success of Kosovo'sindependence as a new beginning will be clearly measured byrespect for the rights of minorities, especially Serbs," theformer guerrilla promised.
Triumphant celebrations began hours ahead of thedeclaration by parliament due on Sunday afternoon. The snowystreets of the capital were packed late into the night.Cavalcades of cars circled with horns blaring and Albanianflags in every hand.
Ten years ago this week, Serb forces fought an Albanianguerrilla uprising, killing civilians who got in the way. MajorWestern powers were calling for talks. Russia backed Serbia inits battle with "terrorists".
Determined to end a decade of humiliation from Belgradeunder the late autocrat Slobodan Milosevic, the Albaniansfought on until the West, unable to sit powerless after otherBalkan bloodbaths, bombed Serbia into submission in 1999.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since Serb forceswithdrew in June that year. Promised recognition by the UnitedStates and major European Union powers, Kosovo's 90 percentAlbanian majority can now ignore Serb warnings.
The European Union will deploy a rule-of-law mission ofsome 2,000 starting next month to take over from the UnitedNations. A NATO-led peace force of 16,000 troops will stay on.
Establishing their writ in Serb-dominated land north of theIbar River will be their toughest challenge. Serbia says the EUmission is illegitimate because it has no U.N. mandate, and itsmajor ally Russia backs that position.
RAZOR-WIRE
Serbia promised reprisals but kept them secret. Analystsbelieve any trade, diplomatic or bureaucratic blockade will berelatively short-lived. But they say impoverished Kosovo, whosepopulation of 2 million is Europe's youngest, will need a lotof development aid and on-the-spot guidance for years to come.
Western powers are also nervously watching for any Kosovofallout in ethnically divided Bosnia, where some Serbs threatento secede, breaking up their uneasy partnership with Muslimsand Croats in what would be yet another Balkan fragmentation.
And in neighbouring Macedonia, where NATO and the EUstepped in to cut short an ethnic guerrilla war, theMacedonian-Albanian coalition had its fingers crossed for asoft landing in Kosovo.
NATO peacekeepers were not relying on optimism. Frenchtroops prepared concrete and razor-wire barriers to separateSerbs from Albanians in the flashpoint city of Mitrovica.
The commander of NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo, FrenchLieutenant-General Xavier de Marnhac, said his troops "willreact and oppose any provocation that may happen during thesedays, whether from the Albanian or the Serb side".
Most Serbs fled Kosovo in 1999, fearing Albanian vengeance.Of the 120,000 who stayed, about half live in the northernenclave. But the rest are scattered in small, isolated andvulnerable villages.
Church leaders urged them not to panic.
"Our message to you, all Serbs in Kosovo, is to remain inyour homes and around your monasteries, regardless of what Godallows our enemies do," Bishop Artemije, the head of theSerbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo, told a service in Mitrovica.
Kosovo's declaration will come at a session of parliamentto begin at 3.00 p.m. (2 p.m. British time). Serbia's PrimeMinister Vojislav Kostunica will address his country at 4.00p.m. (3 p.m. British time).
The weather forecast was for heavy snow all day long.
(Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
