The Serb minority in Kosovo on Monday dismantled the barricades erected in the north of the territory after the postponement by Pristina of measures which it considers vexatious, the latest bout of tension in the former Serbian province.
The Serb minority in Kosovo on Monday dismantled the barricades erected in the north of the territory after the postponement by Pristina of measures which it considers vexatious, the latest bout of tension in the former Serbian province. According to an AFP correspondent, protesters removed trucks and other heavy vehicles that had been blocking access to two border crossings with Serbia since Sunday in an atmosphere heavy with dissension. Kosovo police said they were fired upon four times, with no casualties, and reported “ill treatment” suffered by Kosovar Albanians.
Belgrade has never recognized the independence proclaimed by Kosovo in 2008, a decade after a bloody war that left 13,000 dead, mostly Albanian Kosovars. Since then, the region has been the scene of episodic frictions. This new outburst of violence follows Pristina’s decision to impose new administrative and border rules on the Serbs. Under the measures, which were due to come into effect on Monday, Kosovo authorities were providing temporary residence permits to people entering Kosovo with a Serbian identity card. Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti invoked the principle of “reciprocity” since Belgrade imposes the same regime on Kosovars entering Serbia.
“We call on international forces, Western democratic capitals”
Pristina had also given Kosovo Serbs two months to replace Serbian license plates on their vehicles with Republic of Kosovo plates. According to local media estimates, 10,000 vehicles circulating in Kosovo carry plates issued by Belgrade. Under pressure from Western powers and in particular from the United States, a great ally of Kosovo, Pristina announced on Sunday evening the postponement of the entry into force of the new measures for a month, until September 1. Albin Kurti, however, denounced the alleged perpetrators of the weekend attacks. “We call on international forces, western democratic capitals, the European Union and NATO to condemn the violence and aggression of criminal gangs in northern Kosovo, which are clearly organized and financed by Belgrade,” he said. he told the press.
The blocking of the roads and the shootings denounced by the Kosovo police had raised fears of an escalation. NATO forces deployed in Kosovo had warned that they “would intervene if stability was compromised”. The approximately 120,000 Kosovo Serbs, about a third of whom live in the north of the territory, do not recognize the authority of Pristina and remain loyal to Belgrade, on which they depend financially. “I will stay on the barricades as long as necessary because I am not a coward and for me, Serbia is a mother,” an economist working for a company financed by Belgrade. But like many other Kosovo Serbs, he is disillusioned. “Pristina is doing its thing, Belgrade is doing its thing and people here and there have no bread to eat. I’m trying to survive and educate the children so they can run away from here so far as possible”. The latest episode of tension dates back to last September after Pristina’s decision to ban Serbian license plates. For several days, two border posts had been blocked.