Sierra Leone withdraws recognition of Kosovo's independence

"That means Kosovo no longer has a majority in UN," says Dacic

Sierra Leone has withdrawn recognition of Kosovo as an independent state, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, who is on an official visit to that country, said today.

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Sierra Leone, located in West Africa on the Atlantic coast, is the 18th country to withdraw recognition of Kosovo as an independent state.

"I am especially pleased to show the note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that states Sierra Leone is withdrawing recognition of Kosovo as an independent state and will respect the results reached in the dialogue with the mediation of the EU and the UN," Dacic said.

The head of Serbian diplomacy says that currently, out of 193 UN member-states, 92 recognize Kosovo as independent, 96 countries do not, while five are in a fluid stance, i..e mostly recognize Kosovo, but no longer vote for it.

"That means Kosovo no longer has a majority in the UN," Dacic said.

He stated that this "de-recognition" of Kosovo's independence was of particular importance to Belgrade and recalled that Sierra Leone had been among the first countries to recognize Kosovo's independence in 2008.

Dacic said he had successful talks in Freetown with the Sierra Leone's president when it was agreed that bilateral relations, which had been stalled for years, will be improved.

"The president gave the order to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reconsider their position on the recognition of Kosovo," Dacic said.

Dacic also said that the visit of the Sierra Leone president, Julius Maada Bio, is expected in June, while the country's foreign minister will come to Serbia before that to lay ground for the visit.

(Telegraf.rs/ Tanjug)