Togo Withdraws Recognition of Kosovo

African state Togo became the fifteenth country to withdraw recognition of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, said Serbia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic on August 25. Earlier, the politician has already noted that there are less than 100 countries that recognize Kosovo’s independence from Serbia. “Togo is the 15th country that has withdrawn the recognition of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The note was sent on Serbian national and religious holiday Vidovdan on June 28,” Dadic said to Serbian television channel Pink TV on Sunday. On July 27, the recognition of Kosovo was withdrawn by the Central African Republic. Dacic went on to explain that Serbia’s derecognition campaign has a specific goal: ensuring that the number of UN member states recognizing Kosovo falls below 50 percent of the total. “Our goal is for that number to drop below half of the total number of UN member states,” he stated. “There are 193 of them, they should drop to below 97.” Kosovo is a partially recognized republic, which in 2008 unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Independence of the republic is not recognized by Russia, China, Israel, Iran, Spain, Greece and others. Izvestia