Kosovo confident ahead of UN court hearing

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s president says he believes the U.N.’s highest court will approve the legality of his country’s statehood.

Fatmir Sejdiu says Serbia annexed Kosovo with tanks and caused “great bloodshed.” He says he is confident Kosovo’s “arguments are invincible.”

Sejdiu spoke in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, a day before the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands begins deliberations on the issue.

Serbian President Boris Tadic has warned that a ruling approving Kosovo’s independence declaration would set a precedent for secessionist movements around the world.

Tadic says he believes “legal arguments are on Serbia’s side” and that the court will be aware of “the danger of ethnically motivated secession in international relations.”