Moments Before Birth

Photographs by Andrew Testa / Panos for Newsweek
In the weeks prior to Kosovo preparing to declare independence from Serbia, NEWSWEEK sent photographer Andrew Testa to capture the mood of the Kosovars--1.9 million strong, mainly ethnic Albanians, in a land about the size of Lebanon--on the eve of becoming the world’s 194th declared state. He found the aftershocks of war with the Serbs--power and water shortages, severe unemployment--and a people proudly anticipating independence.