TIRANA (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Albanians in Macedonia staged a rally on Friday to voice their support for Kosovo's independence from Serbia, news reaching here from Skopje said.

Over 5,000 people, carrying banners that read ""independent Kosovo-stable region,"" ""together for better future,"" gathered in downtown of the Albanian-populated city of Tetovo, 40 km west of capital Skopje.
""What Serbia did to the Kosovo people motivates all Albanians to commit themselves to the goal of an independent Kosovo,"" said Menduh Thaci, leader of the Democratic Party of Albanians.
He asked for support for UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan which calls for Kosovo's independence, and protested against all those who seek to divide Kosovo and destabilize the region.
It is feared that a partition of Kosovo between ethnic Albanians and Serbs could revive Albanian insurgencies in neighboring Macedonia.
Ethnic Albanians account for 25 percent of Macedonia's 2.1 million population. They mainly live in the north and west of the country.
In 2001, tensions between Macedonia's ethnic Albanians fighting for greater rights and the government forces, brought the country to the brink of a civil war which was averted with the mediation of the European Union and NATO.
Kosovo is Serbia's southern breakaway province which has been run by the United Nations since mid-1999, when NATO troops drove out Serbian forces fighting ethnic Albanian separatists.
Serbia has insisted that Kosovo is an integral part of its territory while ethnic Albanians, who account for 90 percent of the province's 2 million people, have said they will accept nothing but complete independence.