Egypt "edging closer to withdrawing Kosovo recognition"

Egypt "edging closer to withdrawing Kosovo recognition"

As the Vecernje Novosti writes, Serbia's diplomatic battle for Cairo to become the country number 11 to have denied its support to Pristina in the past year has been ongoing for months. In Serbia's favor is the strengthening within Egypt of the faction that believes it is time to reexamine the decision to recognize the southern Serbian province as independent.

Egypt was abstained during the recent vote on Pristina's membership in Interpol, which was unsuccessful. If Cairo changes its decision on Kosovo, it could very quickly trigger a new "domino effect" of recognition withdrawals, with the number of countries that stand with Pristina falling below 100, i.e., resulting in the Kosovo Albanians no longer having the support of even half of UN member-states.

Egypt recognized Kosovo on June 26, 2013, only days before the Egyptian military overthrew then President Mohamed Mursi.

The decision to recognize was read out by then Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Badr Abdelatty, who at the same time emphasized that Cairo "wants to maintain good relations with Serbia."

The Belgrade paper also says that relations between Belgrade and Cairo are on an upward path - something confirmed by the meeting of the Serbian and Egyptian leaders, Aleksandar Vucic and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, last year on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.