US and Eu Powers to Recognise Kosovan Statehood

Britain, France, Germany and the US today said they would recognize Kosovo after its declaration of independence, but Spain broke ranks by saying it would withhold its endorsement.

The announcements by the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, and the British foreign secretary, David Miliband, at an EU foreign ministerial meeting in Brussels, came as a relief for Pristina after Spain punctured Kosovo's euphoria.

The US president, George Bush, hailed Kosovo's historic bid for statehood and the US government extended formal recognition to it as "a sovereign and independent state".

"The establishment of these relations will reaffirm the special ties of friendship that have linked together the people of the United States and Kosovo," the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said in a statement.

Serbia has tonight reacted to the news by recalling its US ambassador.

However, Spain which is grappling with its Basque problem, fears Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia sets a bad precedent for other countries facing separatist movements.

"The government of Spain will not recognize the unilateral act proclaimed yesterday by the assembly of Kosovo," the foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, told reporters.

"We will not recognize because we consider ... this does not respect international law."

Cyprus, Greece, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania have indicated they too are not keen to recognize Kosovo.

Bush is due to make an official statement about Kosovo tomorrow, in line with the original script which calls for the EU to go first in announcing its policy on what the west insists is a "European issue".

Kosovan leaders today sent 192 letters to governments around the world seeking formal recognition of independence.

The Slovenian foreign minister, Dimitri Rupel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said a considerable number of EU countries would support Kosovo's declaration.

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said recognizing Kosovan autonomy was inevitable.

"A negotiated solution was not possible. That is why we cannot now escape this event," he said.

In a statement issued in Brussels, the EU foreign ministers said Kosovo's history of "conflict, ethnic cleansing and humanitarian catastrophe" in the 1990s by Serbia exempts it from a rule saying international borders can only be changed with the agreement of all parties.

The statement made it possible for most EU countries to recognize Kosovo's independence as an exception to the rule of "territorial integrity" of nations under international law.

The Irish foreign minister, Dermot Ahern, said he would be recommending that his government should recognize Kosovo.

"Since the ethnic cleaning that was meted out on it by Serbia under Milosevic and his thugs, the reality is that this day was going to come sooner rather than later," he told the Irish state radio station RTE.

Nato reaffirmed its peacekeeping commitments to Kosovo, saying its 16,000-strong force there, known as Kfor, would carry on working to improve the rule of law and protecting Kosovo's Serb minority.

"Nato's responsibility and capability to ensure a safe and secure environment in Kosovo remain unchanged," the 26-nation alliance said in a statement. "Kfor will continue to execute this mandate in an impartial manner."

Kosovo had remained part of Serbia even though it had been administered by the UN and Nato since 1999, when Nato air strikes ended the crackdown on separatists by the former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Ninety per cent of Kosovo's two million people are ethnic Albanian and they see no reason to remain part of a country that treated them harshly for a decade, culminating in a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Serbian leaders said they would never recognize an independent Kosovo, while Russia, an ally of Serbia, last night called for an emergency UN security council meeting, demanding annulment.

Vojislav Kostunica, the Serbian prime minister, said on national television: "Kosovo is Serbia and that is how it always will be. The so-called Kosovo state will never be a member of the United Nations. Serbia will use all diplomatic means at its disposal to block Kosovo's recognition."