Serbs block roads in northern Kosovo as tensions flare | 24CA News
Tensions have been excessive in northern Kosovo on Sunday, with Serbs blocking roads as photographs and explosions rang out and the Serbian president warned that Serbian troops are able to defend their “homeland” if peace would not prevail.
The roads in Serbia’s former province of Kosovo, which proclaimed independence in 2008, have been blocked with heavy autos and vans a day after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated he would ask the NATO-led peacekeeping pressure in Kosovo to allow the deployment of 1,000 Serb troops within the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, saying they’re being harassed there.
The roadblocks, which Serbs say have been erected to protest the latest arrest of a former Kosovo Serb police officer, got here regardless of the postponement of the Dec. 18 municipal election opposed by Kosovo Serbs.
“Kosovo reduced tensions by postponing local elections,” stated German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Sunday.
“Recent rhetoric from Serbia did the opposite. Suggesting sending Serbian forces to Kosovo is completely unacceptable. So are the latest attacks on EULEX,” she stated.
Vucic stated Sunday after a gathering of Serbia’s high safety physique that he’ll do every thing to protect peace, however that the military is able to shield the minority Serbs in Kosovo.
“We have taken certain measures to protect our homeland,” Vucic informed Serbia’s state RTS tv. “I have issued orders and the National Security Council has accepted them. I am very proud of our soldiers and policemen. Before they receive orders, we will try for a million times to preserve peace,” he stated.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Belgrade of making an attempt to destabilize Kosovo. He stated Serbia is also making an attempt to carry an finish to the EU-mediated dialogue on normalizing bilateral ties and take it to the United Nations Security Council, the place Belgrade hopes to get help from Russia and China.
Kurti known as on Kosovo’s Serbs “to distance themselves from the criminal groups and Vucic’s regime that is funding them and looking for a war.”
EU ‘is not going to tolerate assaults on EULEX’
The European Union rule of legislation mission, generally known as EULEX, reported {that a} stun grenade was thrown at a EULEX reconnaissance patrol in a single day. There have been no accidents or harm.
EULEX, which has some 134 Polish, Italian and Lithuanian law enforcement officials deployed within the north, known as on “those responsible to refrain from more provocative actions” and stated it urged the Kosovo establishments “to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Information Radio – MB9:40Today- proving conflict crimes. A Manitoban who was despatched into Kosovo to collect proof talks in regards to the challenges he sees in documenting the reality of what is occurring in Ukraine
A Manitoban who was despatched into Kosovo to collect proof for the International War Crimes Tribunal presents his perspective on Ukraine. Dr. Peter Markesteyn Manitoba’s Chief Medical Examiner for 17 years till 1999 says investigating alleged conflict crimes on this battle presents new challenges.
The European Union’s excessive consultant, Josep Borrell, stated the EU “will not tolerate attacks on EULEX or use of violent, criminal acts in the north.”
“Barricades must be removed immediately by groups of Kosovo Serbs,” he stated on Twitter. “Calm must be restored … all actors must avoid escalation.”
Unidentified masked males have been seen on the Serb barricades that blocked major roads resulting in the border with Serbia, as Kosovo authorities closed two border crossings to all visitors and pedestrians.
An elevated presence of Kosovar Albanian police in areas with a blended inhabitants, in addition to extra worldwide police and troopers, have been seen within the north on Sunday.
A confrontation underway
Serbia and Kosovo have intensified their confrontation in latest days.
Vucic stated Saturday that he would formally request permission from the NATO-led KFOR mission in Kosovo to deploy Serbian troops in northern Kosovo, whereas conceding that the request most likely would not be granted.
Serbian officers declare a U.N. decision that formally ended the nation’s bloody crackdown towards majority Kosovo Albanian separatists in 1999 permits for some 1,000 Serb troops to return to Kosovo. NATO bombed Serbia to finish the conflict and push its troops out of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008.
The NATO-led peacekeepers who’ve been deployed in Kosovo because the 1998-99 conflict must give a inexperienced gentle for Serb troops to go there. That’s extremely unlikely as a result of it might de-facto imply handing over safety of Kosovo’s Serb-populated northern areas to Serbian forces — a transfer that might dramatically enhance tensions within the Balkans.
“We do not want a conflict. We want peace and progress but we shall respond to aggression with all our powers,’ Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti posted on social media.
Kurti told the European Union and the United States that they should “punish” Serbia for orchestrating the violence to “destabilize Kosovo.”
Tension in the north has been high this week ahead of the polls initially planned for Dec. 18. They have now been postponed to April 23 in an attempt to defuse the situation.
The election was due after ethnic Serb representatives resigned their posts in November to protest a decision by Kosovo’s government to ban Serbia-issued vehicle licence plates.
Tensions have simmered in Kosovo ever since it proclaimed independence from Serbia, despite attempts by EU and U.S. officials to defuse them. Serbia, supported by its allies Russia and China, has refused to recognize Kosovo’s statehood.
Both Serbia and Kosovo want to join the EU but Brussels has warned they must resolve their dispute and normalize relations to be eligible for membership in the bloc.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the NATO-led mission in Kosovo “stays vigilant.”
