Serbia looks to freeze recognitions

Serbian President Boris Tadić has sent 55 of his personal emissaries to as many countries, pleading that they do not recognize Kosovo. 

Belgrade daily Večernje Novosti writes today that this “diplomatic campaign” is already bearing fruit.

What the newspaper refers to as the “shuttle diplomacy” is directed as those countries that are under great pressure to recognize Kosovo, while Tadić’s letter explains Belgrade’s position after the ICJ advisory opinion and calls on these states not to change their stance on Kosovo.

Although new recognitions were announced for the days after the court’s ruling, none have materialized thus far.

On July 22, the top UN court said that the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration of independence, made in February 2008, and rejected by Serbia as an illegal attempt at secession, did not violate international law, since no provision in it actively prohibited such proclamations.

The ICJ did not rule on the right to secession and self-determination.

Among the countries that the newspaper says “great powers” are pressuring to recognize Kosovo are EU’s Slovakia, Romania, Spain, Greece and Cyprus, Caribbean and Central American countries, some members of the Non-Aligned Movement, and former British and French colonies.

The government has not revealed the names of Tadić’s emissaries, “for diplomatic reasons”. Kosovo has been recognized by 69 out of 192 UN member-states.

The territory itself has not been able to join the UN.