Serbia wants international court opinion on Kosovo

Serbia said on Friday it would seek an opinion from the International Court of Justice on whether Kosovo's declaration of independence was legal and that Belgrade would abide by whatever the court said.

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told a U.N. news conference he had asked for a motion to be put before the next annual session of the U.N. General Assembly, opening in mid-September, backing referral by Serbia of the thorny issue to the Hague-based ICJ.

Jeremic said he had put Serbia's request on Friday to U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro. A committee of the 192-member General Assembly will decide whether to include the item on the asseom the ICJ."

The Serbian minister portrayed the idea as the way out of the Kosovo impasse. "I think this is the way forward that has to be supported by opponents and supporters of Kosovo's independence alike," he added. "I think we should all come together in supporting international law."

Serbia, where a new, pro-Western government took office last month, is keen to join the European Union, which wants Belgrade to show flexibility on Kosovo and to hand over remaining war crimes suspects from the 1990s Balkan wars.

Jeremic sounded a hopeful note over controversial U.N. plans to hand over police authority in Kosovo to the European Union, which have been opposed by Serbia and Russia and have split the Security Council.

He said Serbia was discussing the matter with U.N. Kosovo envoy Lamberto Zannier and hoped the issue could be resolved in the autumn.

Turning to war crimes suspects, Jeremic said he was optimistic that "sooner rather than later" Belgrade would be able to announce that the two still at large - former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic and Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic - had been arrested. He gave no details.

Last month, Serbia arrested Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and sent him to the Hague war crimes court.