George Bush Acknowledges Kosovo’s Independence

U.S. President George Bush said Kosovo’s people are free, but stopped short of officially recognising Kosovo’s independence.

The people of Kosovo are now free, said U.S. President George W. Bush, stopping short of formally recognising the territory’s independence, the AFP reported.

We will see how the events develop. The Kosoravs are now independent, which is something I advocated along with my government, Bush said.

But America’s official recognition of Kosovo as an independent state will be ruled by the Ahtisaari plan that has the UN’s support, AFP reported.

All countries are showing restraint 

Although foreign diplomats have announced that leading EU members and America could recognise Kosovo’s independence today, after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, chances of this are decreasing. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday morning that Germany would not be recognising Kosovo during the day, Spain expectedly said it did not recognise Kosovo’s Declaration on Independence and similar statements were made by some other countries, such as Vietnam and Azerbaijan. Also, Serbia announced that it would block Kosovo’s membership in international organisations, such as the UN, which is not impossible, since Serbia’s ally, Russia, is a permanent member of the Security Council.

- As long as Serbia is a member of the United Nations and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Kosovo’s self-proclaimed independence will have no access to those institutions – Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said.

A UN Security Council session has been announced for 9 pm today, while the Serbian Assembly will be holding an extraordinary session on the same topic at 8pm today.