Serbia Urged Ethiopia to Deny Visas to Kosovo Delegation for AU meeting

BELGRADE, ADDIS ABABA, Jan 28 (Tanjug) - The Ethiopian authorities refused to issue visas to the Kosovo delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Skender Hiseni, so the delegation did not arrive in Addis Ababa to the session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU).

As Tanjug learned from the Serbian Foreign Ministry Thursday, the Kosovo delegation requested the Ethiopian authorities to issue visas to them, but they were rejected as the Ethiopian government does not recognize Kosovo passports.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic is paying a two-day visit to Ethiopia where he is taking part in the Executive Council of the African Union, and he will hold a number of bilateral meetings with heads of delegations of the African Union member states, it was said in the statement.

“We understand the nervousness and frustration of Serbia in relation to Kosovo and the irreversible process of Kosovo’s independence,” Beqiraj said. She added that Kosovo’s foreign ministry is in contact with the African Union.

Speaking at the opening of the session, Jeremic welcomed the fact that as many as 80 per cent of the member-states of the African Union have not recognised Kosovo's independence and called on them to maintain their stance.

"We ask all the countries represented in this room which have not recognized Kosovo to stay the course by not accepting Kosovo's attempted secession. We do so not only in the name of our traditional ties of friendship, but in the name of working together to consolidate a rules-based international order for the 21st century- one in which secession is clearly seen as a dangerous threat, and one in which reaching agreement between the parties is the only legitimate, sustainable way forward," Jeremic said.

He also recalled the history of strong ties between Serbia and the Non-Aligned Movement, the first session of which was held in Belgrade in 1961.