The bunting is going up on Pristina’s Mother Teresa Boulevard, stages are assembled for concerts starring Kosovo-born British singer Rita Ora, and international dignitaries are starting to arrive. On Saturday, the small Balkan state marks the 10th anniversary of its declaration of independence, and the air of pride and enthusiasm is palpable.
“Independence was the best thing, the best thing, to happen to Kosovo,” says Granit Miftari, a 27-year-old singer in aviator sunglasses as he passes a stage. “This is one of the best holidays that we can have.”
Among the guests will be Cherie Blair, whose husband is fondly remembered in Kosovo for his leading role in Nato’s intervention in the 1998-99 Kosovo war, which paved the way for independence.
“The US and the UK are the founders of our state,” says Hasan Dotoku, a 67-year-old retired building technician, as he passes by an “Olympic Park” ice rink.
“Tony Blair helped us a lot, and children and streets are named after him. We think of him as our man.”
But the joy cannot disguise the serious challenges that the partially-recognised country faces, domestically and internationally. Migration, youth unemployment, unresolved alleged war crimes, and ethnic division are headaches for Kosovo’s international backers, including the UK, EU, and US. The territorial disputes over Kosovo seem so intractable that some are floating the idea of a further redrawing of Balkan borders – a move that could trigger a new round of warfare.
“There is a feeling of dignity and pride for Kosovo’s achievements,” says President Hashim Thaçi in his offices in the capital, where the framed handwritten declaration of independence hangs on the wall. Thaçi was political leader of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that waged a guerrilla war against the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav state in the late 1990s, culminating in Serb forces’ withdrawal in 1999 following a 78-day Nato bombing campaign.
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