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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Kosovo vows to protect minorities | Kosovo vows to protect minorities |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has vowed to protect the rights of all minorities as the province prepares to declare independence from Serbia. | Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has vowed to protect the rights of all minorities as the province prepares to declare independence from Serbia. |
| Reports say the declaration could come on Sunday, but Mr Thaci did not set a date at a news conference in Pristina. | Reports say the declaration could come on Sunday, but Mr Thaci did not set a date at a news conference in Pristina. |
| The US and most EU states are expected to recognise Kosovo quickly, but Serbia and Russia strongly oppose the move. | The US and most EU states are expected to recognise Kosovo quickly, but Serbia and Russia strongly oppose the move. |
| Serbia has threatened to use diplomatic and economic measures against Kosovo, though it has ruled out using force. | Serbia has threatened to use diplomatic and economic measures against Kosovo, though it has ruled out using force. |
| The Russian foreign ministry on Friday said it would have to "take into account" any declaration of independence by Kosovo in regard to its relations with Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. | |
| Moscow has previously hinted that it could recognise the regions, if the West recognises Kosovo. | Moscow has previously hinted that it could recognise the regions, if the West recognises Kosovo. |
| EU mission | |
| Speaking to hundreds of reporters in Kosovo's capital Pristina, Mr Thaci pledged that the rights of all communities in the province, including Serbs, would be guaranteed. | |
| He said no citizen of an independent Kosovo should feel discriminated against and no-one would be left out. | |
| Mr Thaci also invited all displaced persons and refugees who had left Kosovo in the past to return. | |
| The United Nations has administered Kosovo since a Nato bombing campaign in 1999 drove out Serb forces accused of persecuting the province's majority ethnic Albanians. | |
| A civilian police and justice mission for Kosovo is expected to be given the go-ahead by EU member states on Monday. | |
| BBC News website world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds says the US and a number of EU countries, including the UK, will recognise Kosovo shortly afterwards. | |
| Kosovo's assembly will make the declaration of independence on Sunday, he says, making clear its acceptance of the limitations on independence outlined in the UN plan drawn up by Martti Ahtisaari. | |
| These include supervision by an international presence; limited armed forces; strong provisions for Serb minority protection; commitment to multi-ethnic democracy; neither Kosovo nor any part of it will be allowed to join another country. |