Serbia to challenge Kosovo's independence at the World Court

Dec 11 2007, 16:29
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - President Boris Tadic said Serbia will try to block Kosovo's planned declaration of independence through the International Court of Justice.
Tadic said Serbia will ask the UN Security Council to seek an opinion from the Hague-based court on the legality of Kosovo's declaration of statehood, expected early in 2008.
"We must do everything to prevent Kosovo's independence ... in a peaceful and well-planned way," Tadic told state TV late Monday. "But, if that decision is made, we must annul such a unilateral act by starting legal processes in front of international institutions."
The international court is the UN's highest court for resolving international disputes.
Russia's envoy to unsuccessful talks on Kosovo's future status backed its ally Serbia saying Tuesday the independence declaration would be illegal.
"A unilateral declaration of independence would violate UN Security Council resolution 1244" that says Kosovo is a Serbian province, Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko as saying.
"In that case, Russia would demand the reversal of such a decision, its annulment," the agency quoted him as saying.
European Union nations, at a meeting in Brussels on Monday, failed to break a deadlock on whether to recognize the independence of Kosovo, which is formally part of Serbia.
Cyprus remained the only member blocking a unanimous decision on recognizing independence for the province and on sending a 1,800-strong mission to replace the UN
Serbia's nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Tuesday it will not trade fast-track EU membership for accepting Kosovo's independence, or approve the EU's mission without a UN resolution.
"Whoever wants Serbia as a partner must know that Serbia accepts the partnership as a whole, and not a divided country," Kostunica said in a statement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, and the two remained apart on Kosovo's future status, Merkel spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in Berlin.
"The already-known difference in positions between Russia on the one side and the EU on the other side remains in place," Wilhelm told reporters. "However, both (Merkel and Putin) agreed that an escalation must be avoided and that they must continue to consult closely."
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations, backed by NATO troops, since the alliance's 1999 bombing campaign to end a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
Washington has repeatedly signaled that it is ready to recognize Kosovo's split from Serbia, raising the likelihood of a showdown with veto-wielding Russia when the Security Council takes up the issue on Dec. 19.
Serbia has launched a diplomatic offensive to persuade council members that "Kosovo's independence is absolutely unacceptable," Tadic said.
Serbia has rejected phased-in, supervised statehood for Kosovo, while Kosovo Albanians, who represent 90 percent of the province's 2 million people, want nothing but independence.