Albanians Take Power in Kosovo
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s constitution went into force yesterday, handing the newly independent nation’s ethnic Albanian government power after nine years of U.N. administration.
The charter — a milestone that comes four months after leaders declared independence from Serbia — gives the government in Pristina sole decision-making authority.
But it threatens to worsen ethnic tensions between Kosovo’s Albanians and Serbs. Security in the divided northern town of Mitrovica was high a day after a gunman attacked a police station, wounding one officer.
Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders were expected to mark the constitution in a low-key ceremony in Pristina later yesterday that will open with Kosovo’s newly approved, instrumental anthem.
President Sejdiu called it the most important act since Kosovo’s declaration of independence in February.
