Venezuela's Chavez won't recognize independent Kosovo

CARACAS, Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that Venezuela will not recognize an independent Kosovo, warning that the eastern European nation's separation from Serbia could spark war in the region.

"We do not recognize the independence of Kosovo," Chavez said in a nationally televised address. "This could end in a disaster."

More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany. But the declaration by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has been rejected by Serbia's government and the ethnic Serbians who populate northern Kosovo.

Chavez said Venezuela would join Russia, China, Spain, Romania and other countries in condemning the declaration.

"This cannot be accepted. It's a very dangerous precedent for the entire world," he said.

Bolivia — one of Venezuela's closest South American allies — has also refused to recognize Kosovo's independence. President Evo Morales compared Kosovo separatists to the leaders of four eastern Bolivian states who have demanded greater autonomy from the federal government.

Kosovo has not been under Serbian control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt that country's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since.