Stuart Pinfold

Birth of a Nation: Hello Kosovo, Goodbye Yugoslavia

I've been looking at the situation in Serbia this week with more interest than usual: partly because I've just been reading about Sealand, an self-proclaimed independent nation ten kilometres off the Suffolk coast in the book Attention All Shipping by Charlie Connelly, but mainly because we're planning to drive around that region (although probably not as far east as Serbia) in the summer.

The breakaway of Kosovo, of course, represents the final nail in the coffin for Yugoslavia, the kingdom that used to encompass what is now seven countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia (and now Kosovo). Despite officially ending in 1991, The name Yugoslavia ceased being used in 2003 when Serbia and Montenegro changed its name, before splitting peacefully in 2003 to become two seperate countries.

Another four years on, and Serbia has lost even more of it territory - but this time perhaps it won't be quite so peaceful. The UK, Ireland, the European Union and the United States are all ready to recognise Kosovo: but Serbia, and the wider region, don't seem to be.

During the hour-long session in the Kosovan Parliament, shown live on most 24-hour news networks around the world, Serbian TV was showing a tennis match, Croatian TV a documentary about the archbishop of Zadar, and Montenegrin TV a soap opera.

What's even more interesting is that these countries - particularly Serbia - will not recognise Kosovo as a seperate entity - despite doing through the same (and, in the process, kicking off the Balkan war) in the early '90s.

Three hours or so after the announcement, word is filtering through into the BBC Newsroom about violent protests, some involving hand grenades, outside US embassies in the Serbian capital Belgrade and the nothern Kosovan town of Mitrovica. As I've been typing this post, video feeds have just popped up from Belgrade showing protestors clashing with security forces and throwing firecrackers in the street.

I hope it doesn't, but it could mean lots of overtime for me and my colleagues in Traffic... but possibly no holiday to the Balkans to spend it all on!

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