Kosovo to get independence, leader vows

A former rebel leader was elected Kosovo’s prime minister, and he vowed that the province is only weeks away from independence from Serbia.

Kosovo’s parliament elected Hashim Thaci, 85-22, to head a coalition government that will try to steer the province through a declaration of independence, a course supported by the United States and some European governments, but fiercely opposed by Serbia and Russia.

“It’s an issue of weeks and Kosovo will be an independent, sovereign and democratic country,” Thaci said. He said no move would be made without the approval of the U.S. and key European nations.

Kosovo has been under United Nations and NATO control since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a Serb crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians.