Editorial
Kosovo declares itself free
It needs the world's support and encouragement
KOSOVO's declaration of independence has caused quite a few powerful, and widening, ripples in the international community. With Serbia, from which state the Kosovars have now prised themselves out as a free entity, angrily denouncing the move, it is but natural that Kosovo's leaders will feel some heat in the days ahead. The Serbian foreign minister's statement that Kosovo will never find a place in the United Nations, together with Russian opposition to the independence move, will certainly not scupper Kosovo's status as a free state. But it does point to a situation where the new state will find it hard to find acceptability among a certain section of the global community.
That is clearly the reason why the leaders of the world's newest state have written to governments across the world seeking recognition for an independent Kosovo. The good news here is that Kosovo enjoys the support of the West. With Washington and the European Union willingly agreeing to the freedom move, the people and government of Kosovo will find some much needed comfort in what they mean to do about themselves from here on. There is, moreover, the fact the plan put forth by Marti Ahtisaari, then a special UN envoy and later president of Finland, in the late 1990s regarding Kosovo's graduation to supervised independence remains in place. The plan was devised in the aftermath of the Serbs' military onslaught on Kosovo, which had attempted to move out of a federation that was already crumbling in a post-Cold War world. It is thus logical to suggest that the step Kosovo, with a majority population of ethnic Albanians, has now taken does not at all fly in the face of reality.
As the United Nations prepares to discuss the issue owing to the fact that Russia and its friends have not acknowledged Kosovo's declaration of independence, one expects the creation of an atmosphere where the new country will eventually, and soon, find a niche for itself in the world. It can do without the hostility of its detractors. What it cannot do without is the sympathy and support of other nations as it tries strengthening its political and economic foundations.
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