Issued on: 02/08/2022 – 04:05
NATO-led peacekeepers, supported by helicopters, Monday oversaw the removal of roadblocks protesters had set up in Kosovo, where political tensions have escalated for more than two decades since a NATO campaign of airstrikes ousted Serb forces.
Kosovo police said the removal of barricades in the north of the country allowed the reopening of two border crossings with Serbia.
“Roads are now clear for traffic, both border crossings are now open for people and goods to cross,” the police said in a statement.
The lifting of the barricades came after the Kosovo government postponed the implementation of a decision that would oblige ethnic Serbs, who make up a majority in the north, to request documents and license plates issued by Kosovar institutions.
The situation has revived rifts with Serbia and Russia, neither of which recognize western-affiliated Kosovo as an independent state and have blocked its attempts to join the United Nations. Recognized as a nation by more than 100 countries, Kosovo wants to join NATO.
The government’s decision to postpone it followed consultations with US and EU ambassadors.
“Violence is not tolerated. Those who use violence will be punished by the rule of law with the force of law,” Prime Minister Albin Kurti told reporters on Monday. He said a total of nine roadblocks had been put in place.
Simmering dispute
Fourteen years after Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia, some 50,000 ethnic Serbs in the north still use license plates and papers issued by the Serbian authorities and refuse to recognize the Kosovar government.
Ethnic Serbs had parked heavy machinery, including trucks filled with gravel, on roads near the border with Serbia on Sunday, in protest at the new policy, which the government agreed to delay until September 1.
After that date, local Serbs will have 60 days to switch to Kosovo registration plates and accept documents issued at the border to Serbian citizens, including those living in Kosovo without local papers.
“Thank God an overnight escalation has been avoided, but this situation has been postponed for only one month,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
Tensions with Serbia remain high and Kosovo’s fragile peace is maintained by NATO’s KFOR mission, which has 3,770 troops on the ground. The mission said in a statement on Sunday that it was prepared to intervene in accordance with its mandate if stability was threatened.
Italian peacekeepers were visible in and around the then northern city of Mitrovica on Sunday.
A Reuters reporter saw KFOR helicopters flying over northern Kosovo, which borders Serbia. Peacekeepers were also present as the roadblocks were dismantled, standing by the roadside and talking to residents.
Earlier on Monday, the government began issuing additional documents to Serbian citizens at the largest border crossing between Serbia and Kosovo, Merdare. The government of Kosovo said it would stop issuing the documents once the roadblocks are removed.
A year ago, after local Serbs blocked the same roads in another row over license plates, the Kosovar government deployed special police forces and flew Belgrade fighter jets close to the border.
Serbia and Kosovo committed to a European Union-sponsored dialogue in 2013 to try to resolve the remaining issues, but little progress has been made.
(REUTERS)