As the deadline for a negotiated agreement on Kosovo's future expired on Monday without a settlement, several thousand wildly cheering pro-independence protesters took to the streets of Pristina, waving Albanian and American flags and chanting, "Independence now!"
Giddy Kosovars, assured of staunch US support and a promise of recognition from all but one EU country, reveled in hopes that a decades-old dream may finally be within reach.
"Independence means so much to us. It means a new identity and a new future for Kosovo," said Agim Kastrati, a 19-year-old law student who marched through Pristina on Monday demanding a declaration of statehood early next year.
Legally part of Serbia, this territory of 2 million people has been in limbo since NATO intervened in 1999 to stop a wave of repression by Serbian forces against ethnic Albanians. The province, administered for the past eight years by the UN, has become a test case for the EU's ability to speak with one voice and to prevent another civil war in its backyard.
EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday in Brussels said they had "virtual unanimity" on recognizing Kosovo's eventual independence, with Cyprus the sole holdout.
And Kosovo's outgoing prime minister demanded an "immediate and permanent" conclusion to the ethnic Albanian majority's drive for statehood -- a quest that led to the 1998 to 1999 war with Serbia.
"No more delays. No more deals," said rally organizer Burim Balaj, as 3,000 demonstrators outside parliament set off firecrackers, waved US and Albanian flags and held posters that read: "Independence is the only option."
"U-C-K! U-C-K!" the crowd shouted back, using the acronym for the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's troops in a conflict that claimed 10,000 lives.
Yet the celebratory mood was tinged with uncertainty. Some wondered whether the seemingly imminent birth of a nation will reignite ancient ethnic hatreds and thrust the Balkans into a new cycle of bloodshed.
NATO, which has 16,000 peacekeepers in Kosovo, has boosted street patrols to discourage extremists on both sides.
"I don't believe it's possible for Serbs and Albanians to live together peacefully," said Mimoza Sejdiu, 24, an ethnic Albanian at Monday's rally. "I don't see a common future as citizens of one country."
In a sign of underlying tensions, Kosovo police said that over the weekend, assailants threw a bottle of flaming liquid into a vacant house owned by Serbs in the town of Gnjilane southeast of Pristina and sprayed this menacing message: "Death to Serbs."
Diplomats said recognition likely would come in waves, with the US and key European powers such as Britain, France and Germany among the first. The Baltic countries and Scandinavia would be in a second wave, and most of the rest of the bloc would follow later.
Meanwhile, Russia will demand that the UN Security Council annul any unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo, Interfax quoted Russia's chief Kosovo negotiator Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko as saying yesterday.
"Russia will of course demand the annulment of such a decision. We will demand a meeting of the Security Council because it would be a violation of a council resolution," he was quoted as saying.
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