By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 21 -- While each time the Kosovo "debate" in the UN Security Council gets more rote, on Tuesday Kosovo announced two new recognitions of its independence: from Chad and Mali.
The fact that Mali just had a coup d'etat, and doesn't control the northern half of the country, was not mentioned.
Inner City Press ran back from the day's UN noon briefing to try to ask Prime Minister Hashim Thaci for the specifics of the Malian recognition, and about the administration of programs in north Mitrovica. (Inner City Press asked about that at the noon briefing and hopes to have more.)
But Thaci at the stakeout wasn't answering in English, and there was no translation, nor Press question taken.
Back in May 2010, incoming President of the General Assembly Vuk Jeremic as foreign minister of Serbia praised pre-coup Mali for NOT recognizing Kosovo, saying "it is not easy to support sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia nowadays. It takes autonomy, principle and courage to do so, and Mali definitely has that."
Now, after the coup, Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Behgjet Pacolli has bragged of recognition.
Why would a government in the middle of a coup, and negotiations with ECOWAS, go and recognize Kosovo? The next target, and Pristina says last, target in West Africa is Togo.
In January 2011, US state media Radio Free Europe broadcast that Guinea-Bissau had recognized Kosovo, calling it the 74th recognition.
Then in September 2011 it was reported that Guinea-Bissau and Oman rescinded recognition. Which is it? No questions were taken. Watch this site.
