the International Court of Justice yesterday issued an opinion on the 2008 declaration of independence of Kosovo, which you can read here. It's OK, they said. Complies with international law, they said. Serbia disagrees, as you might expect, and so does Spain, for reasons that are understandable to do with fears of separatism, and so do six other EU countries. I have readers who are quite keen on compliance with international law, so I am sure they will be pleased - anyone? anyone? (sound of tumbleweed)
I have been to Kosovo twice, once with the military in 2001 (the News of the World reported certain events there when I got back, byee Clairey Ward former MP for Watford) and once last year, by way of visiting all Europe's capitals. Pristina is a dump.
4 comments:
I hope the Kosovo ruling will bolster the cause of Somaliland, which richly deserves international recognition of its de facto 19-year-old independence. It meets the criteria (control of territory, functioning government, ability to deal meaningfully with other sovereign states, etc).
I am very pleased to see that the new UK government is interacting with Somaliland on various levels. We should be rewarding success rather than reinforcing failure.
There was a suspicion that previous UK policy towards Somaliland was hamstrung by the supposed need to toe an EU line, with the Italians and the French being anti-Somaliland.
you are right and thank you for posting this. Next stop Somaliland, I hope. Cue a parliamentary question from a government backbencher with sense in their head.
Thanks Jane. I'll write to my MP (Rob Wilson) and ask him. As he was recently appointed to be a PPS he will not be able to raise such a matter himself as a parliamentary question, but I would be interested to hear his view.
I was impressed by the official British message of congratulations to the winner of the recent presidential election in Somaliland: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=22518429
You'd think from it that Britain already recognises Somaliland's independence!
Sounds like Pristina should be twinned with Reading then.
Somaliland ? WTF ?
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