U.S. and EU powers recognise Kosovo as some fear precedent

By Douglas Hamilton

PRISTINA (Reuters) - Europe's major powers and the United States said on Monday they recognised Kosovo's new independence, as Serbs reacted with anger and some states warned that its secession from Serbia set a dangerous precedent.

Serbian President Boris Tadic told the U.N. Security Council that unless it stopped Kosovo's independence, it would tell the world that no country's sovereignty and borders were safe.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica ordered the immediate recall of Belgrade's ambassador from Washington.

He said envoys would be recalled from other capitals that recognised Kosovo. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said later his ambassador would be withdrawn from France, the first to recognise Kosovo after a European Union foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. Britain, Germany and Italy followed.

"The United States has today formally recognised Kosovo as a sovereign and independent state. We congratulate the people of Kosovo on this historic occasion," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said -- words Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians had long dreamed of hearing.

"In light of the conflicts of the 1990s, independence is the only viable option to promote stability in the region."

Washington led NATO allies to bomb Serbia over its treatment of Kosovo Albanians in the 1998-99 guerrilla uprising.

Recognition was a relief for Pristina, which had nervously awaited the West's expected blessing of its secession, but a black day for Serbia, which vowed never to concede the loss of a spiritual homeland steeped in myth.