The International Court of Justice is due to rule on the legality of Kosovo's unilateral secession from Serbia. Judges will issue a non-binding ruling on Serbia's claim that Kosovo's declaration of independence was a violation of its territorial integrity.

If the ICJ sides with Serbia, Kosovo could be pushed into negotiating a settlement. The opposite could see more countries recognising its independence.

Earlier, the US reaffirmed its "full support" for an independent Kosovo. The commander of the Nato-led peacekeeping force meanwhile said its 10,000 troops were ready for any violence sparked by the ruling.

"On the field we don't have indications about nervousness, about any upcoming threat," BBC News quoted German General Markus Bentler of the Kosovo Protection force as saying.

Serbian forces were driven out of Kosovo in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign aimed at halting the violent repression of the province's ethnic Albanians, who constituted 90% of its two million population.

69 of the UN's 192 countries and 22 of the 27 EU member states have recognised Kosovo's independence.

Kosovo was then administered by the UN until February 2008, when its parliament voted to declare independence. The move has so far been recognised by 69 of the UN's 192 countries and all but five of the 27 members of the EU.

Serbia, backed by Russia, refused to recognise Kosovo's secession and later challenged its legality at the ICJ at The Hague. At the start of the deliberations last December, Serbia's representatives argued that the move both challenged its sovereignty and undermined international law.

Kosovo's representatives meanwhile warned that any attempt to reverse its independence might spark further conflict.

Although non-binding, the court's ruling will provide a framework for diplomats to try to establish a working relationship between Serbia and Kosovo.

The dispute has held up Serbia's EU membership talks and hindered Kosovo's ability to attract foreign investment. Parts of northern Kosovo also remain tensely divided between ethnic Albanians and Serbs, and clashes occasionally erupt.

According to the British daily The Guardian a ruling saying the declaration of independence was legal would also have an impact on the wider international stage, bolstering demands for recognition by territories as diverse as Northern Cyprus, Somaliland, Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Transnistria.

 

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