Egypt's recognition of Kosovo was "only verbal" - report

Egypt's recognition of Kosovo was "only verbal" - report

The same, unnamed source, said that (diplomatic) notes were not exchanged between the foreign affairs ministries of Egypt and Kosovo - "instead this was done only verbally through a statement made by former (Egyptian) ministry's spokesman Badr Abdel-Atti."

"It all happened on June 26, 2013, three days before the fall of the Muslim Brothers. This verbal recognition was the result of some internal calculations of the Muslim Brotherhood and of external pressure they were subjected to," he said, commenting on the reports that Egypt was now considering withdrawing its recognition.

According to the source, the usual way to recognize a state is the exchange of notes on the establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of embassies, but in this case - this does not exist.

The rule is that the recognition act is made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based on a government decision or that of the head of state, while when it comes to withdrawing a recognition, it is not necessary to formally send a paper, as this this can be done in other ways, the source explained for the daily's Wednesday issue.

According to the article, Serbian diplomats also on several occasions heard from Oman's officials that their country did not recognize Kosovo.

Asked if it was true that Egypt could withdraw the decision to recognize Kosovo, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on Monday replied only by saying: "We'll see."

At the same time, Egypt's ambassador in Belgrade said the embassy had no official information from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, i.e., the Egyptian government, and that they "cannot rely on information published in some newspapers."

Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti reported earlier, citing Egyptian media, that this country could reconsider its decision to recognize Kosovo.

Politika, meanwhile, suggests that Egypt is not the only state that "verbally" recognized Kosovo, and cited Guinea Bissau - which has in the meantime revoked its recognition - as an example, at the same time recalling that Suriname announced in late October it had revoked the decision, while Sao Tome and Principe was the first country "to be associated with the idea of ​​changing the position regarding the independence of Kosovo."

If Egypt were to "in any way" announce that the verbal statement of recognition was null and void, "that would certainly be a piece of news that would reverberate in the world, because Egypt is a very influential Arab country, and would be the most influential state (to date) to decide to take this step," concluded Politika.