Albanians "one nation" across borders, Albanian PM Berisha says

Oct 6, 2009, 14:20 GMT

Pristina - Albanians in Albania and Kosovo are a single nation, Prime Minister Sali Berisha asserted Tuesday at the start of a two-day visit aimed at forging closer ties with the former Serbian province.

'The nation is one and inseparable in spirit and identity,' Berisha told reporters after arriving in Kosovo, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia last year. Kosovo has a 90 per cent Albanian majority.

Berisha, who started his second term in the office last month, is due to sign a series of protocols in Pristina to further ease the flow of people and goods across the border. His visit is certain to irk Serbia, which insists that Kosovo is still its territory.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said 'it is not a secret' that Albanians in Kosovo and Albania have 'brotherly relations,' adding that they were reflected in the effort to enable free movement across borders.

The Albanians in Kosovo launched an insurgency against Serbian rule in 1998. The conflict culminated a year later, when NATO intervened against Belgrade, ousting Serbian security forces from the province.

A UN administration governed Kosovo for nine years, until Pristina, encouraged by the United States and most Western powers, declared independence in February 2008.

While the US and most European Union nations recognized Kosovo as a new country, Russia has backed Serbia's claim of property over it and has blocked its promotion in the UN.

The region meanwhile remains volatile, as Kosovo itself now faces resistance from the 10-per cent Serb minority dominating the northern one-quarter of its territory.

Also, most among the ethnic Albanians who make up the majority in parts of southern Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo aspire to join their compatriots in a single country, which is another source of tension.