Albanians Take Power in Kosovo

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo's constitution went into force yesterday, handing the newly independent nation's ethnic Albanian government power after nine years of U.N. administration.

The charter — a milestone that comes four months after leaders declared independence from Serbia — gives the government in Pristina sole decision-making authority.

But it threatens to worsen ethnic tensions between Kosovo's Albanians and Serbs. Security in the divided northern town of Mitrovica was high a day after a gunman attacked a police station, wounding one officer.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders were expected to mark the constitution in a low-key ceremony in Pristina later yesterday that will open with Kosovo's newly approved, instrumental anthem.

President Sejdiu called it the most important act since Kosovo's declaration of independence in February.