Kosovars Here Celebrate Independence
ST. LOUIS — Edmond Ibrhimi remembers the precise date — Aug. 2, 1999 — that he first came to this city, leaving behind his native Kosovo as a 20-year-old.
War, "ethnic cleansing," being displaced in an alien country — there are certain things you don’t forget.
But now, nearly a decade after 10,000 of his fellow Kosovars were slaughtered by Serbian troops, forcing thousands such as he to flee abroad, he’s ready to celebrate. At long last, Kosovo will be its own country.
"It’s really exciting," he said Saturday, sitting inside Caffe Milano on Gravois Avenue as smoke, chatter and the sounds of Euro-pop swirled around him. "Everyone’s so excited that Kosovo’s going to be independent."
On Sunday in the capital, Pristina, Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, is expected to announce that Kosovo will become a sovereign nation, seceding from Serbia to form the newest independent country in the troubled Balkans.
In 1999, NATO forces entered Kosovo, in southern Serbia, to end the late Slobodan Milosevic’s brutal crackdown on Albanian separatists. Since then Kosovo has remained a part of Serbia, though it has been under United Nations rule, with about 16,000 U.N. peacekeeping forces remaining on patrol.
About 90 percent of Kosovo’s 2 million people are ethnic Albanians, aligned more with neighboring Albania than Serbia. Yet many Serbians consider Kosovo the heart of the country, and are loathe to let it go. Serbia, backed by Russia, has resisted Kosovo’s independence, and many believe the separation could spur unrest in the Serb minority within Kosovo.
The United States and the European Commission have supported Kosovo’s independence. On Saturday, the EU sent an 1,800-member mission to Kosovo to replace the U.N. administration. The mission will help build a police, justice and customs system. This spring, the Missouri National Guard will send about 1,000 soldiers to support peacekeeping in Kosovo. They are expected to stay until March 2009.
The country, about the size of Connecticut, is poor and suffers from a 50 percent unemployment rate. But on Saturday, its troubles and the challenges ahead weren’t on Kosvars’ minds.
In Kosovo, people took to the streets, waving Albanian flags. In St. Louis on Sunday, a group of Kosovars and Albanians will do the same thing, driving the streets of the city.
"We’ve been waiting for this day for 100, 200, even 500 years," said Xhevdet Dullovi, 28, a Kosovar who moved here in 1999.
Petrit Krasniqi, another St. Louis Kosovar, said he cried when he heard the news of the pending announcement. "It was just the maximum feeling a person can have," he said, sitting at Caffe Milano, a hang-out for St. Louis’ Balkan residents.
Krasniqi and his Kosovar friends Afrim Dalipi and Asim Hysa have planned a party for next Sunday to celebrate with fellow Kosovars and with the wider group of Albanians here, which numbers about 3,000.
"We have no Kosovo community," he said. "We have an Albanian community."
But by next Sunday, Kosovo will have its own flag.
"All the symbols will come," Krasniqi said.
ggustin@post-dispatch.com — 618-624-2438