PRISTINA: Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani on Wednesday said that Kenya had become the latest nation to recognize Kosovo as an independent country and has pledged to open diplomatic ties.
“Kosovo continues to move forward on its path of integration and strengthening its international position,” Osmani said on her Facebook account.
In her post, she published a proclamation she said was from Kenyan President William Ruto that spoke of Kosovo’s right to self-determination and included a statement that said “this recognition will extend to the establishment of diplomatic relations.”
Serbia’s ministry of foreign affairs “strongly condemned” Kenya’s decision to recognize “the unilaterally declared independence of so-called ‘Kosovo’.”
“Such a move constitutes a gross violation of international law and a direct violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244,” the ministry said in a statement.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a war in the late 1990s between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in what was then a breakaway Serbian province.
While the United States, many European nations and other countries recognize Kosovo as independent, Serbia and two of its most powerful allies — Russia and China — do not.
Serbia says it has persuaded some countries to withdraw recognition, but Kosovo denies this and insists that more than 100 countries do.
Kosovo says Kenya joined countries recognizing it
https://arab.news/v92ru
Kosovo says Kenya joined countries recognizing it
Thousands of Venezuelans march to demand Maduro’s release
- Several demonstrators, many of them public sector workers, held photos of Maduro and of his wife, Cilia Flores, who were both seized by US forces on January 3 to stand trial on drug charges in New York
CARACAS: Thousands of backers of Venezuela’s former leader Nicolas Maduro, ousted in a deadly US military operation a month ago, marched in Caracas on Tuesday to demand his freedom.
“Venezuela needs Nicolas,” chanted the crowd, as stand-in President Delcy Rodriguez navigates a tightrope between holding on to support from Washington but also from Maduro acolytes in her government and the Venezuelan people.
Several demonstrators, many of them public sector workers, held photos of Maduro and of his wife, Cilia Flores, who were both seized by US forces on January 3 to stand trial on drug charges in New York.
Called by the government, the march stretched for several hundred meters, accompanied by trucks blaring music.
Many protesters waved Venezuelan flags and were dressed in the red colors of the ruling “Chavista” movement named after Maduro’s socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez.
“We feel confused, sad, angry. There are a lot of emotions,” said Jose Perdomo, a 58-year-old municipal employee who also declared his backing “for the decisions taken by our interim president, Delcy Rodriguez.”
He added that “sooner or later they will have to free our president.”
US President Donald Trump has said he is willing to work with Rodriguez as long as she toes Washington’s line, particularly on granting access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Under pressure, Rodriguez has started freeing political prisoners and opened Venezuela’s nationalized hydrocarbons industry to private investment.
She was a staunch backer of Maduro, and served as his vice president.
