Serbia : Vojislav Kostunica resigns and calls for elections - bumpy road ahead

Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has announced his resignation and called for new elections.

The BBC are reporting this is a result of his failure to get his cabinet to reject closer ties with the European Union in the wake of Kosovo's declaration of independence.

AP report that Kostunica says that he will convene a session of the government that will make a decision to call new elections for May 11.

Kostunica blames his pro-Western ministers of failing to support his efforts to preserve Kosovo as part of Serbia as he has demanded that Serbia cannot join the EU unless the bloc's member nations rescind their decisions to recognize Kosovo's independence.

The Pro-EU coalition government parties won't accept this pre-condition and say Serbia's future in the EU should not depend on Kosovo's status.

In Australia 1000's attended a rally calling on the Federal Government to reverse its decision to recognise Kosovo as an independent state. They marched with banners "Kosovo is Serbia" and the "United Nations is dead".

On Friday U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried told a news conference in the Kosovo capital, Pristina.

"Independence is a fact. This is a reality. History is only going to move forward," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried told a news conference in the Kosovo capital, Pristina which seemed to overlook the reality of life as it is lived in Kosovo these days.

There has been an increasing level of harassment on the ground as Customs, police, courts and transport infrastructure have all been hit in a widening Serb boycott of the new country. The Serb-dominated north stands is increasingly becoming a cockpit of intense nationilsm.

Serbia have recalled their Ambassador , Vera Mavric from Finland in protest over the Finish recognition of Kosovan independence.

A note of protest she handed in repeated Serbia's position that the declaration of independence by Kosovo without the approval of the United Nation's Security Council is a violation of international law and specifically of the UN Charter, UN resolution 1 244 and the Helsinki Accords.

President Tarja Halonen gave official endorsement to the government's decision to recognise Kosovo's independence and to establish diplomatic relations with the country on Friday. No debate was involved in the decision to recognise Kosovo. President Halonen and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen agreed on the matter already a week earlier.

Earlier in the week, Serbia had recalled ambassadors to countries that had recognized Kosovo, including Sweden. The Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was due to visit Kosovo on Saturday for talks with Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and President Fatmir Sejdiu in Pristina as well as officials from the UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK and the EU.