Kosovo's leader Hashim Thaci confirmed Saturday that Kosovo would declare its independence from Serbia on Sunday, the day when the "will of the citizens of Kosovo" would be implemented.
"Tomorrow will be a day of calm, of understanding, and of state engagements for the implementation of the will of the citizens of Kosovo," said Thaci after meeting religious leaders from the predominantly ethnic Albanian province.
Expectations that independence would be declared on Sunday have been running high but Thaci's comments marked the first top-level confirmation that the long-awaited break with Serbia would take place this weekend.
Thaci appealed for celebrations to unfold with "dignity ... on the day of the declaration of independence, on the big day, on the historic day ... a day of thanksgiving for a sovereign and independent Kosovo".
Kosovo inched closer to its historic declaration of independence with a growing sense of excitement among its people and the European Union launching a police and judicial mission to smoothen the birth of the world's newest state.
Serbia, backed by Russia, has said that the split -- supported by the United States and most major European powers, nine years after Kosovo was put under interim UN administration -- would be illegal.
The leader of Kosovo's Serb minority, Milan Ivanovic, told AFP that the EU police and justice mission -- designed to help Kosovo's transition to sovereignty -- was a form of "occuatpion".
Without giving their sources, several newspapers in Pristina reported Saturday that the declaration would come around 3:00 pm (1400 GMT) on Sunday to the strains of "Ode to Joy," the anthem of the European Union.
Street parties and fireworks would follow, while the NATO-lead Kosovo Force that has been deployed in Kosovo since 1999 -- when the province was put under UN interim adminstration -- is expected to be out in force to ensure security.
"Everything is pointing to Sunday," a source close to Thaci's government told AFP earlier in the day, as Serbia all but gave up hope of hanging onto the province it sees as the cradle of its culture and Serbian Orthodox religion.
