<div><p>The United States urged a UN court Tuesday to back Kosovo's independence as an act that brought stability to the Balkans, as Russia demanded the resumption of talks with Serbia on the territory's status.</p><p>At the International Court of Justice, US legal delegation head Harold Hongju Koh insisted that Kosovo's secession last year did not contravene international law and so required no opinion from The Hague-based tribunal.</p><p>The United States wants to "urge this court to leave undisturbed the independence of Kosovo," he told the panel of 15 judges, before the stand was taken by Russia, Serbia's ally and a key opponent of the breakaway move.</p><p>"Kosovo's declaration of independence brought a necessary and stabilising end to a turbulent chapter in the history of western Balkans, and made possible a transition to a common European future for the people of Kosovo," he said.</p><p>"The real question this court faces, is whether to support the (continuation) of this tragic past, or whether instead to let Kosovo and Serbia look forward to this more promising future."</p><p>Kosovo was put under UN supervision following a NATO bombing campaign in 1999 against former Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic to stop his bloody crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.</p><p>It unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008, after long and tortuous UN-brokered talks with Belgrade broke down, to international dismay and frustration.</p><p>With Russia certain to block action in the UN Security Council, the United States and European allies recognised immediately in an effort to add momentum to support for what they saw as Europe's newest, if widely-impoverished, state.</p><p>Russia warned that endorsing independence would send the wrong signal to rebels around the world, and its echoes resonated in Moscow's backing for two breakaway regions in Georgia last year.</p><p>Moscow's ambassador to the Netherlands, Kirill Gevorgian, also insisted that the status talks were never officially halted by the UN Security Council, as required.</p><p>"The fact that they did not bring a result does not mean that the negotiations should be considered exhausted," he said, echoing one of Serbia's key arguments.</p><p>"It was for the Security Council to decide on the termination of an interim period and the beginning of the final stage," he said.</p><p>He also underlined that UN resolution 1244 under which Kosovo was supervised "remains in force in its entirety. Therefore no institution has a right to unilaterally declare the independence of Kosovo."</p><p>"This is a case par excellence to show that international law does matter," he concluded.</p><p>More than 60 nations have recognised Kosovo's statehood, including 22 of the 27 members of the European Union, which sent a major justice and police mission to help chaperone the poverty-stricken region to independence.</p><p>But momentum has faded, leaving some EU nations staunchly opposed to Kosovo's decision to break away, either through their reluctance to send any untimely message to their own separatists or out of support for Serbia.</p><p>Opening proceedings Tuesday, Spain's delegation, led by adviser Concepcion Escobar Hernandez, argued that the UN Security Council can only permit such moves.</p><p>She said that states -- even a powerful group like the United States and its European heavyweight allies -- could not set themselves above the UN system.</p><p>Escobar, whose country has problems with its own separatists in the Basque region, underlined that "international law does not recognise the rights of people to declare unilaterally their independence".</p><p>The hearings, with testimony from 29 nations, run until December 11. The court will not rule on Kosovo's independence, but will hand down a non-binding opinion in a few months.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=65018485&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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