Kosovo Accuses Serbia of Bribing Countries With Arms

Kosovo's Foreign Ministry on Sunday accused Serbia of selling - or even giving away - weapons to countries, to dissuade them from recognising its independence.

The ministry said it was "disturbed" by the revelations of international organisations, such as Amnesty International, that Serbian-made weapons are ending up in war-torn African states and in the hands of the Islamist terrorist organisation Boko Haram.

The ministry said that the "publication of these evidence reinforces the conviction that Serbia has used, and is still using, the sale or gifts of weapons as a diplomatic tool to persuade some countries from recognising Kosovo".

Amnesty International and Bellingcat stated that they had verified that a gun seen in a video of the execution in Cameroon of women and children accused of belonging to Boko Haram was a Serbian-made Zastava M21.

Amnesty told BIRN that Cameroon had used Serbian-made weapons in a pattern of "systematic violations" of human rights. It has called on Serbia to suspend its arms export to the African state.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but has struggled to gain recognition, especially in Africa and Asia, against a background of Serbian hostility. Of the 193 UN member states, about 110 have recognised Kosovo. However, there are arguments about the exact number, as Serbia claims some countries have withdrawn their earlier recognition.

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