Kosovo and Serbia launch campaigns in showdown over recognition

Jul 26, 2010, 11:40 GMT

Pristina/Belgrade - Kosovo Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni departed Monday for the seat of United Nations in New York to lobby for broader diplomatic recognition of his country, countering an opposing campaign by Serbia.

His office said in a statement that he has 'tens of meetings scheduled' with representatives of countries that have not recognized Kosovo since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Local reports say that Hyseni will meet officials from 60 countries.

Hyseni's campaign comes in the wake of the July 22 opinion by the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ), which said that Kosovo violated no international law by declaring secession from Serbia.

So far 69 countries, including the United States and leading European Union nations, have recognized Kosovo, while around 120 have not. This means that Kosovo needs a swing by about 25 countries to gain the majority in the UN General Assembly.

Kosovo, with an Albanian majority, declared that it was splitting from Serbia in February 2008, nine years after NATO expelled Serbian forces from the territory to end ethnic bloodshed.

In Belgrade, the Serbian parliament on Monday was called to an emergency debate on the ICJ ruling. The legislature is expected to say - again - that Serbia will never accept the secession of Kosovo, which it sees as its heartland territory.

Belgrade officials were disappointed by the ICJ ruling. They requested the opinion, expecting the UN court to say that the unilaterally proclaimed secession was illegal.

Though the verdict is in fact a non-binding opinion, they planned to use it as a definitive argument to discourage more countries from recognizing Kosovo.

Belgrade media said Monday that the Serbian foreign ministry still plans a campaign against more recognitions. It intends to send 55 delegations to unnamed countries for that, reports said.

Serbia's ultimate goal is to push a resolution through the UN General Assembly when the ICJ report comes to its agenda in September. It plans to demand new talks on the status of Kosovo.

Kosovo intends to achieve to secure new recognitions, get support from a majority in the UN and prevent the resolution Serbia wants.