BERLIN (AFP)--Germany decided to abstain in the U.N. General Assembly's vote Wednesday asking the International Court of Justice to rule on the legality of Kosovo's independence, Chancellor Angela Merkel said. 

The vote in the 192-member assembly on a Serbian resolution seeking support for the referral was 77 in favor, 74 abstentions and six against. 

The ICJ, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations which is based in The Hague, rules on disputes between sovereign states. 

The debate didn't focus on the validity of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Belgrade on Feb. 17 but on whether the ICJ, part of the U.N. and based in The Hague, should be asked to rule on its legality. 

Some 47 countries, including the U.S. and most E.U. nations including Germany, have so far recognized Kosovo's unilateral secession from Belgrade. 

But Serbia still considers Kosovo one of its provinces and Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, has strongly backed its ally Belgrade in the dispute. 

"On the one hand we are convinced that the recognition was correct but on the other hand cannot say that the International Court of Justice is not allowed to decide," Merkel said. 

"Therefore we have decided to abstain," she said after talks with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha in Berlin.