It is now one month since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia with the unanimous support of Kosovo’s parliament.  In central Pristina, tens of thousands of flag waving Kosovars erupted in cheers as authorities formally voted to break from Serbia sand sent a new state into the international fold of nations.

"We are now an independent, free, sovereign and democratic country," Kosovo parliamentary speaker Jakup Krasniqi announced.

Sherife Bajrami, a Pristina doctor and mother of four, told local media that they’d been waiting for this day to come for a long time. "We'll celebrate with dignity, with respect for minorities, for all to live happily in the land of Kosovo."

However, not all were pleased with this announcement of independence. Serbs living in Kosovo were outraged, staging violent protests and setting off explosions.

This rejection of Kosovo’s declaration of independence was echoed by the Serbian state with President Boris Tadic declaring that his country will never accept an independent Kosovo. “Serbia has reacted and will react with all peaceful, diplomatic and legal means to annul this outrageous act committed by Kosovo's institutions,” Tadic stated.

Serbia, backed by its long-time ally Russia, has strongly rejected the move for independence, insisting that Kosovo is and will always be Serbian.

While calm has prevailed in Pristina, in the northern part of Kosovo, which is mostly populated by the Serb minority, tensions have remained high.

Hundreds of young Serbs have gathered daily in the ethnically-divided town of Mitrovica to protest on the bridge over the Ibar river, which acts as a natural border between the northern Serb-populated part and the southern, Albanian district. The Serbs here refuse to accept Kosovo’s independence and institutions, vowing to set up their own parliament.

Known for political unrest and its bloody and violent history, Kosovo is a landlocked country sharing its borders with Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Serbia.

Kosovo’s declaration of independence brings down the curtain on the long and brutal 1990's break-up of Yugoslavia that followed the demise of communism in Europe and witnessed some of the continent's worst atrocities since World War II.

It is estimated that about 10,000 people died in the 1998-1999 Kosovo war, as Serb forces tried to rid the providence of ethnic Albanian separatists. A NATO air war staged against late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic halted the conflict and since then Kosovo has been under UN administration.

Kosovo’s declaration of independence has deeply divided states that recognise its autonomy and those that do not. Political unrest surrounds not only the legality of the declaration itself but its impact on international relations and whether or not it sets a legal precedent for other separatist movements throughout the world.

As of 20^th March, thrity-three countries have recognized the newly proclaimed state of Kosovo; among them the major European powers, the United States, Japan and Australia.

In the past week Bulgaria, Croatia and Hungary have joined the ranks of those that recognise Kosovo, becoming the first of Serbia’s eight neighbours to accept Kosovo as independent. The three countries have stated that despite their decision to support Kosovo they still want a good relationship with Serbia.

Serbia immediately warned its three neighbours that relations would suffer by joining the growing list of nations giving diplomatic recognition to Kosovo, issuing a statement that said, “Every country that makes this move cannot count on good relations with us.”

Serbs, for whom Kosovo is an ancestral homeland and the site of many important Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries, insist that the area remain under Serbian sovereignty. Other nations that agree with this declaration and have disputed Kosovo’s claim for independence include Serbia, Russia, Spain and at this stage, 18 other nations. The official position of these countries is that Kosovo is a Serbian province under UN control and thus has no legal right to declare independence.

Spain has said that it will not recognise Kosovo because of fears of strengthening independence calls in its Basque region. This fear of Kosovo becoming a precedent for other areas seeking independence is not unique to Spain.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus has warned that Kosovo’s independence could unleash a domino affect in Europe. “Some parties in other states could realise that they do not feel completely at ease within a big state in which they are now," Klaus said in a television interview. The Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees stating that Kosovo has set a terrible precedent which will blow apart the whole system of international relations.

It has also raised tensions in the Balkans, intensifying wide-spread fears that the Serbs in Bosnia will also demand their independence. While Kosovo’s independence has been recognized by Canada, the government stressed that it was not to be viewed as a move to be exploited by the Quebec separatist movement.

The US state department has criticized such fears of Kosovo setting a precedent as unfounded, arguing that that every territorial conflict is unique. Furthermore, it states that Kosovo’s independence cannot be used by other states to solve disputes.

Kosovo's independence has not only caused a political storm in Serbia, but also revived a cold war climate between Russia and the West.  Former US Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton has warned that Western recognition of Kosovo independence would create an unavoidable confrontation with Russia and turn what is now a relatively small problem into a large one.

The future of Kosovo and the long term ramifications of its independance for international relations remains to be seen.

image: Kosovo independence celebration, Times Square. By Angela N.
Courtesy of Creative Commons