(CNN) -- Kosovo's assembly Wednesday approved new Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and a coalition government that strongly backs independence from Serbia.
Kosovo's prime minister-elect Hashim Thaci is expected to declare independence from Serbia.
The Democratic Party of former rebel leader Hashim Thaci and its rival, the Democratic League of Kosovo, concluded negotiations this week to share power. The 120-member assembly voted in favor of the agreement.
Both parties have promised to declare Kosovo's formal independence from Serbia, a move which analysts said may happen in the next few months.
Thaci said: "It's an issue of weeks and Kosovo will be an independent, sovereign and democratic country. A country of everybody, a country that will respect the rights of minorities through affirmative actions.
"Independence is everything for our country and our people. We sacrificed, we deserve independence and independence of Kosovo is our life, it's our future."
Moves toward independence accelerated in December, when nearly two years of U.N.-organized talks to determine Kosovo's final status ended without agreement. A three-party grouping of the United States, European Union, and Russia said it could not agree on a proposal for Kosovo's future.
Serbia strongly opposes independence for Kosovo and wants the province instead to remain autonomous within its borders.
Serbian government officials have said any unilateral declaration could plunge the region into turmoil, triggering fears that Belgrade would take violent means to prevent it. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremik said the government would do its best to prevent violence, but he gave no guarantees.
"I don't want to say that in the case of the (unilateral declaration of independence) all bets would be off, but there is probably like a number of bets that would be off under such circumstances," Jeremik said.
The United States and most European countries back self-determination for Kosovo in principle. Russia, which supports Serbia's position, has criticized the U.S. and EU support and said a unilateral declaration would violate an existing U.N. Security Council resolution.
Serbia's stance on Kosovo could harm its bid to join the European Union, said Carne Ross, the director of Independent Diplomat, a non-profit group which has advised the Kosovo government on diplomacy.
"If Serbia behaves hostilely toward Kosovo, then the EU will take a somewhat dimmer view to Serbia's joining the EU," Ross said.
Serbian government officials have warned that a unilateral declaration would lead to a new generation of violence in the Balkans. Extremists in both Kosovo and Serbia have threatened to resort to armed struggle if, in their view, too many concessions are made.
NATO currently has 16,000 troops in Kosovo which have been patrolling close to the border in case of independence-related violence. European leaders have agreed to send an 1,800-strong security force to maintain stability in Kosovo.
Ross said Kosovo wants to coordinate any declaration with the international community, particularly the United States and EU.
"The EU will be forming the international mission that will help with various aspects of government in Kosovo after independence -- post-final status, as it's called -- so it's essential that the EU is synchronized with any decision that the Kosovo government makes," he said.
One country which could help keep the peace after any declaration is Slovenia, which took over the rotating presidency of the EU on January 1.
As part of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia could be seen as an honest peace broker. The country favors supervised independence for Kosovo but may be able to use its own experience to help Serbia on the path to EU membership, thus lessening the blow of Kosovo independence.
Despite the outside factors, Ross said, Kosovo is sure to declare its independence.
"The will for independence is overwhelming," Ross said. "The international community should not underestimate this."
Ruling party, opposition level in Zimbabwe results Tue Apr 1, 2008 2:17am AEDT
Two cabinet members from Robert Mugabe's ruling party have been beaten in their respective constituencies. (AFP: Jekesai Njikizana)
Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF continued to be at level-pegging as the results trickled in from a weekend general election, despite two prominent cabinet members losing their seats.
With 38 of the 210 parliamentary seats so far declared, the MDC and the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front had both won 19 constituencies, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced to reporters at its Harare headquarters.
Among the notable early results saw Mugabe's outgoing justice minister Patrick Chinamasa beaten in the rural eastern constituency of Makoni Central.
A second cabinet member, Chen Chimutengwende, also lost his seat in Mazowe central, a rural constituency near Harare.
As well as choosing lawmakers, voters went to the polls on Saturday to choose a president and local councillors.
The opposition MDC said unofficial tallies showed its leader Morgan Tsvangirai had 60 per cent of the presidential vote, twice the total for Mr Mugabe, with more than half the results counted.
Mr Mugabe, 84, faces unprecedented pressure because of Zimbabwe's economic collapse and a two-pronged attack by veteran rival Mr Tsvangirai and ZANU-PF defector Simba Makoni.
The MDC said its tally showed it had won 96 parliamentary constituencies out of 128 counted. Mr Makoni had 10 per cent of the unofficial presidential vote count.
"In our view, as we stated before, we cannot see the national trend changing. This means the people have spoken, they've spoken against the dictatorship," said MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti.
The relatively slow pace of announcements has also prompted the opposition to accuse the commission of deliberately sitting on the results in a bid to fix the election in favour of Mr Mugabe who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980.
Zimbabwe is suffering the world's highest inflation of more than 100,000 percent, chronic shortages of food and fuel, and an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a steep decline in life expectancy. -AFP/Reuters
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