Serbs Protest New Kosovo Republic

A new flag - a blue banner with a yellow silhouette of Kosovo and six white stars representing each of the main ethnic groups - fluttered from homes and offices, as Kosovars celebrated their new republic's recognition by key Western leaders. But Serb-controlled northern Kosovo was tense, with thousands demonstrating against independence and an explosion damaging a U.N. vehicle. No one was hurt.

By sidestepping the U.N. and appealing directly to the U.S. and other nations for recognition, Kosovo's independence set up a showdown with Serbia - outraged at the imminent loss of its territory - and Russia, which warned it would set a dangerous precedent for separatist groups worldwide.

While Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. were among the countries that formally recognized the new country, other European Union nations were opposed, including Spain (which has battled a violent Basque separatist movement for decades).

While on a trip to Africa, President Bush announced that the Kosovars are independent, and today called Kosovo an "independent and sovereign state."

Rebuffing protests by Serbia and Russia, Mr. Bush promised in a letter to the new nation's president, Fatmir Sejdiu, that "the United States will be your partner and your friend."

"In your request to establish diplomatic relations with the United States, you expressed Kosovo's desire to attain the highest standards of democracy and freedom," Mr. Bush wrote. "I fully welcome this sentiment. In particular, I support your embrace of multi-ethnicity as a principle of good governance and your commitment to developing accountable institutions in which all citizens are equal under the law."

In response to the U.S. announcing it would open diplomatic relations with the new government, Serbia "urgently" recalled its ambassador to the United States, Ivan Vujacic, to return to Belgrade.

"The decision by the United States will not turn the false state (of Kosovo) into a real one," said Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. "That's why, with this decision, they have shown the violent face of American aggressive force."

He vowed to recall his ambassadors from any nation that recognized the independence of Kosovo.

He added Kosovo's independence declaration was "unilateral, illegal and immoral, carried out under the protection of the brutal force of the United States and NATO."

"America violated international law for its own interests," he said.

Serbia also filed legal charges against Kosovo's leadership for its proclaimed secession, and vowed to block the nascent nation's attempts to join the international community.

Serbia argued Monday that an independent Kosovo violates the U.N. Security Council's orders as the country tried to stem the tide of diplomatic recognition for Europe's newest state.

Emergency Meetings Continue At The U.N. Security Council

At the second day of the U.N. Security Council's emergency session on the future of Kosovo, Serbian President Boris Tadic appealed to the council to block Kosovo's declared independence and met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for a brief talk.

The meeting began with an address from Ban, who noted the many peaceful celebrations but also some scattered violence resulting from Kosovo's Sunday announcement of independence. He said the U.N.-approved administration of Kosovo authorized by a 1999 Security Council resolution would continue to run the territory until a transition can be achieved.

"The U.N. has been instrumental in moving Kosovo away from the humanitarian and emergency phase to peace consolidation, and the establishment of functional local self-government and administration," Ban said.

"The United Nations has created a functional justice system and a multiethnic police force, and has successfully organized and overseen five elections," he said. "Freedom of movement and interethnic crimes have been reduced."

Tadic, who recently won re-election and favors improved relations with the European Union despite its recognition of Kosovo, also took at sea at the Security Council meeting Monday afternoon, with the backing of Russia, which has veto power on the Security Council and is Serbia's traditional ally.

"The Serbian state was born in Kosovo and it represents the central part of our identity," Tadic told the council. "I shall be frank with you: this is a situation in which a peace-loving country, in which a proud and European people lives, is being snatched of a part of its identity, tradition and history. This act annuls international law, tramples upon justice and enthrones injustice."

Tadic promised that Serbia "will not resort to force. ... On the other hand, this arbitrary decision represents a precedent, which will cause irreparable damage to the international order."

Kosovo won recognition Monday nevertheless from three of the five other veto-wielding powers on the Security Council - the United States, Britain and France - and from Germany.

"The council meets today in unusual circumstances. A new state has been established in Europe, against the wishes of its former parent state and of a permanent member of this council," said John Sawers, Britain's U.N. ambassador.

"This new state is being recognized today by many governments in Europe and beyond, including my own," he said. "It is not ideal for Kosovo to become independent without the consent of Serbia and without consensus in this council."

"The declaration is a milestone," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk at United Nations headquarters, "but U.N. membership and independence without a U.N.-mandated force is still a long way off."

Falk said "Sunday's Security Council session showed the deep divisions between Russia and Serbia on one side and the U.S., the U.K., France and Kosovo on the other - and these issues are unlikely to be resolved this week, when the Council hears from Serbia's President."

Russia has said it is deeply concerned about the safety of Serbs living in the territory. China, a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member that had close ties with the Yugoslav government of Slobodan Milosevic, expressed its "deep concern" Monday over Kosovo's declaration and called on the province to reach a "proper solution through negotiations" with Serbia.

Russia said in a statement it regretted Kosovo's unilateral declaration and hoped it would not bring about fresh tension and conflict in the Balkan region. It said U.N.-backed principles of upholding the territorial integrity of developing nations must be supported.

Kosovo had formally remained a part of Serbia even though it has been administered by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists, which killed 10,000 people.

Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanian - most of them secular Muslims - and they see no reason to stay joined to the rest of Christian Orthodox Serbia.

Serb Leader: "There Will Never Be An Independent Kosovo"

Despite calls for restraint, tensions flared in northern Kosovo, home to most of the territory's 100,000 minority Serbs. An explosion damaged a U.N. vehicle outside the ethnically divided
town of Kosovska Mitrovica, where thousands of Serbs demonstrated, chanting "this is Serbia!"

The crowds marched to a bridge spanning a river dividing the town between the ethnic Albanian and Serbian sides. They were confronted by NATO peacekeepers guarding the bridge, but there was no violence.

About 800 Serbs staged a protest in a medieval Orthodox church in the town of Gracanica, near Kosovo's capital, Pristina. They denounced the U.S. and pleaded for Russia's help.

Carrying banners reading "Russia Help!" and posters of U.S. flags with Nazi swastikas scribbled over them, about 5,000 protesters demanded that the Kosovo areas where ethnic Serbs live remain part of Serbia.

Some kissed red, blue and white Serbian flags and carried banners saying, "We trust Russia."

"This declaration is nonsense," said a 40-year-old man who gave only his first name, Dragan. "This is America building a Muslim state here. I feel as if someone broke into my house and robbed me."

In a first sign that Serbia was attempting to retake authority in the north of Kosovo, some Serb policemen started leaving the multiethnic Kosovo police force on Monday and placed themselves under the authority of the Serbian government in Belgrade, a senior Kosovo Serb police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

There were about 320 Serb policemen in the U.N.-established force that has run Kosovo since 1999. The departure of Serb policemen in the force would likely trigger a confrontation with the U.N. administration.

Kosovo is still protected by 16,000 NATO-led peacekeepers, and the alliance boosted its patrols over the weekend in hopes of discouraging violence. International police, meanwhile, deployed to back up local forces in the tense north.

NATO insisted its peacekeeping mission in Kosovo will not be weakened by differences among the allies over recognition.

Russia has supported Serbia's claim to keep Kosovo, while the U.S. government extended formal recognition to it Monday as "a sovereign and independent state."

"America is no longer the single world power," Marko Jaksic, the Kosovo Serbs' hard-line leader, told a noisy gathering in Kosovska Mitrovica, a drab mining town divided into Serb and Albanian sections.

"The Russians are coming. As long as there is Russia and Serbia, there will never be an independent Kosovo," Jaksic said.

An explosion late Monday near the offices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and a local police station damaged several cars, but caused no injuries, police said.

It was the third blast that apparently targeted international organizations based in the Serb-controlled areas since the declaration.

Earlier Monday, a hand grenade explosion destroyed a U.N. car in a village near Kosovska Mitrovica, and another one on Sunday slightly damaged a U.N. building in the city, but caused no injuries.

Associated Press writers Dusan Stojanovic in Kosovska Mitrovica, Nebi Qena in Pristina, and Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed to this report.