Serbia urges split U.N. council to act on Kosovo

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - If the U.N. Security Council does nothing to stop Kosovo from seceding, it will send a message to the world that no country's sovereignty and borders are safe, Serbian President Boris Tadic said on Monday.

But the 15-nation council remained deeply divided over Kosovo and took no action at an emergency meeting held after the United States and major European Union powers recognized the former Serbian province as an independent state.

Tadic repeated that Serbia saw the majority ethnic Albanian territory's secession as a violation of international law and urged the council to avoid setting a dangerous precedent.

"If you cast a blind eye to this illegal act, who guarantees to you that parts of your countries will not declare independence in the same illegal way?" he told the council.

"Who can guarantee that a blind eye will not be cast to the violation of the charter of the United Nations, which guarantees the sovereignty and integrity of each state, when your country's turn comes up?"

Tadic received strong support from the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, who called Kosovo's declaration of independence on Sunday "a blatant breach of the norms and principles of international law."

Serbia's argument is that the secession is illegal because it's neither endorsed by Belgrade, which considers Kosovo its sovereign territory, nor by the U.N. Security Council, which has had ultimate authority over Kosovo since 1999.

Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya also expressed concern about Kosovo's move, saying it posed a "serious challenge to the fundamental principles of international law." Envoys from Vietnam and South Africa also expressed reservations about it.