BELGRADE, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Serbia will seek the UN general assembly's support to challenge Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence before the International Court of Justice, President Boris Tadic said Sunday.

'At the general assembly (meeting) of the United Nations Serbia will strongly demand an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice related to the proclamation of independence by Kosovo and recognition of such independence by certain states,' Tadic told reporters in Belgrade.

On February 17 the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo, an UN-run province of Serbia, unilaterally proclaimed independence and was promptly recognised by some 40 countries, including the United States and most of the European Union nations.

Serbia and its traditional ally Russia immediately rejected the move, considering it illegal and claiming violation of international law.

Serbia withdrew its ambassadors from all countries that have recognised an independent Kosovo and vowed it would never accept the separation of its province.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic has been trying to win support from non-Western countries as Serbia needs a majority in the UN general assembly to launch the motion before the ICJ.

But British ambassador in Belgrade Stephen Wordsworth said the motion would not be welcomed by the EU, which Serbia has been trying to join.

'The initiative before the (ICJ) court seems a straight challenge' of the EU by Serbia, Wordsworth was quoted as saying in an interview with the Vecernje Novosti newspaper published on Sunday.

'The process will attract a lot of public attention and it will be difficult to cooperate on (Serbia's) integration into the EU and to confront it at the same time,' he said.

'That is why we think it is a mistake,' the daily cited him as saying.

The EU and Serbia signed in April the Association and Stabilisation Agreement, considered to be a first step towards full membership in the bloc.

Belgrade hopes to reach the candidate status by the end of the year and eventually to join the EU in 2012.

Kosovo was administered by a UN mission and NATO after the end of the 1998-1999 war between Belgrade-controlled Serb forces and ethnic Albanian separatists.