James Berisha

Once a Serbian province of the former Yugoslavia, its Assembly declared independence in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. The basis of Berisa's "Flying For Kosovo" odyssey is to help increase the number of countries that officially recognize the declaration.

"It is an idea that has turned into a mission to raise awareness around the globe for our independence," he told The Observer. "According to the United Nations, out of 192 countries on the planet, 66 have recognized our independence so far. In fact, the 66th recognition came two days ago from Swaziland."

The first nation to recognize Kosovo was Costa Rica on February 17, 2008, followed the next day by the United States, France, Albania, Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Others soon followed, and include such diverse nation states as Australia, Canada, Japan, Panama, Peru, Senegal, and the United Arab Emirates.

The solo aviator began the Caribbean leg of his journey when he touched down in Aruba on April 5. Since then has visited the capitals of Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, and Antigua and Barbuda before his April 15 stop in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Barisha was granted a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon. Sam Condor and Senior Foreign Service Officer Kaye Bass, in addition to taking the opportunity to visit various media houses while in the Federation.

"Ms. Bass was extremely knowledgeable about our independence and actually showed me the government's file on Kosovo," he said, noting further the recommendation from Bass that since CARICOM member state Belize had already recognized Kosovo's independence, it would be beneficial for them to bring the matter up as an agenda item at the up-coming CARICOM foreign minister's meeting.

Berisha is financing the undertaking on his own, as his trip has not been at the official behest of the Kosovo government, though its authorities are kept apprised of his progress.

"The government knows exactly what I'm doing," he informed. "They've known the whole way. I'm in daily contact with our Washington D.C. embassy."

The pilot enters each country with the goal to raise awareness of the Kovoso independence struggle, "So that the people of the country know that we exist," he said. "Then I go and speak to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If they have not recognized us as a nation, many times they don't know about the facts."

Those facts include a controversial NATO military campaign, part of a series of events leading up to Kosovo's independence declaration.

"What happened is that after the NATO bombing in 1999, we were under UN protection for 9, almost 10 years," he explained. "We established all governmental departments during those years, and when independence was declared within a few days we had 10 to 20 countries that recognized us."

The NATO military action against Yugoslavia lasted from March 24 to June 11. The reason cited for the aerial bombardment was a coalition response to a campaign of ethnic cleansing directed against the Kosovar civilian population by Yugoslav security forces.

At press time, Berisha had made it to the Dominican Republic, where he plans to thank them for supporting Kosovo's independence. The country is, in fact, the only one in the Caribbean to do so. Others, such as Jamaica, have rejected the declaration outright.

In diplomatic discussions this month between Jamaica and Serbia, Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic was quoted by government sources as saying that his country could "count on Jamaica's continued support in the preservation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

"At talks with Jamaican officials I thanked them for their respect of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the fundamental principles of international law, " he said. "We will fight at the UN for every country and every vote."

Jeremic further noted that Serbia is entering a crucial stage in its diplomatic and legal efforts to initiate new talks on Kosovo.

Independence supporters, such as Berisha, are trying to ensure reaching the magic number of half of the planet's countries to, in effect, create a 'tipping point' of sorts, and make Kosovo's independence an accepted fact among the international community.

To date, 34% United Nations member states have provided formal recognition, including a majority of countries in the European Union (22 out of 27) and NATO (24 out of 28). Unsurprisingly, Serbia refuses to recognise it, but all the other territories that border it have done so.

A number of nations have expressed concerns over the unilateral character of the declaration of independence, or have stated explicitly that they will not grant official recognition.

On the UN Security Council, three of the five members with veto power - the United States, United Kingdom, France - are fully behind Kosovo's independence, while China has instead encouraged the continuation of previous negotiations to resolve the issue. Russia has rejected the independence declaration and considers it illegal.

On his Web site, Berisha lists a total of 85 scheduled international destinations in his quest. Aside from the primary mission of engaging support for Kosovo's independence, he expressed enjoyment at being able to visit so many locales.

"I wasn't aware of how beautiful the planet is until I had a chance to go and experience it personally," he said. "You see the rain forests, and the waterfalls; different climates in every place, different fruits, vegetables -- it is fascinating. These are the things that I will never, ever forget."