PARIS (AP) – Members of the U.N. cultural agency have narrowly rejected Kosovo’s bid for membership, in a victory for Serbia and Russia and a blow to Kosovo’s mission for global recognition as a state.
Most nations that participated in Monday’s voting favored Kosovo’s membership, with 92 “yes” votes and 50 “no” votes and 29 abstentions. According to UNESCO rules however, the bid needed the support of two-thirds of those voting, or 94 “yes” votes, said Stanley Mutumba Simataa, the Namibian diplomat presiding over the vote.
Kosovo has been recognized by 111 countries since it declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Russia, which backed Serbia in Kosovo’s 1998-99 war for independence, has used its U.N. Security Council veto to block Kosovo from becoming a full U.N. member.
Kosovo has won membership in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The predominantly ethnic Albanian leadership had promised that if it became a UNESCO member, it would protect the cultural heritage of Serbs, despite tensions that have lingered since the war.
Serbia had warned that allowing Kosovo into UNESCO would fuel those tensions and hurt an EU-brokered dialogue aimed at normalizing ties between the former foes.