Kosovo: NATO removes roadblocks, Serbs erect new ones as tensions rise

Belgrade, 27 Sept. (AKI) – Nato forces stationed in Kosovo began removing barricades in northern Kosovo overnight and local Serbs erected new ones as tensions flared again Tuesday at one of two border crossings at the centre of a two-month-old dispute.

Nato's KFOR force used teargas to disperse local Serbs holding a vigil at the roadblocks and arrested several people at the Jarinje border crossing with Serbia. One man had to be treated in hospital for his injuries, Serbian media reported.

The crisis broke out two months ago when Kosovo's ethnic Albanian dominated government sent special police and customs officers to take over two border crossings with Serbia, Brnjak and Jarinje, amid a trade dispute.

Belgrade opposes Kosovo's independence, declared by majority Albanians in 2008 and local Serbs, who form the majority of the population in the north, don’t recognise Pristina's authority and object to Kosovo police and customs officers being placed at border crossings with Serbia.

A local Serb leader Branko Ninic said KFOR blocked all local roads in the north, cutting off several villages and making it impossible for people to reach work and children to go to school. Serbian television said the situation was tense with sirens sounding in the northern town of Leposavic early Tuesday and local Serbs massing at the disputed border crossings

Ninic described KFOR's action as “another provocation” ahead of a new round of European Union-sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina which were due to resume in Brussels on Tuesday.

Belgrade has accused KFOR and the EU mission in Kosovo (EULEX) of siding with majority Albanians and of overstepping its “status neutral mandate” as defined by the United Nations Security Council.

Pristina and Belgrade negotiators reached an agreement on customs seals to be used on border crossings with Serbia, but the two sides failed to reconcile their differing interpretations of who should control the crossings.

The crisis broke out in late July when Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci controversially sent special police to Kosovo take over two northern border crossings with Serbia from KFOR and European Union police.

Kosovo police seized the border crossings to enforce a ban on imports from Serbia. Kosovo's government imposed the ban in July in retaliation for Serbia's blocking of Kosovo imports.

Serbia is expecting to become an official candidate for EU membership in October, but EU officials have said it must first establish “good neighbourly relations” with Kosovo and resolve the crisis in the Serb-populated north.

Kosovo's independence has been recognised by more than eighty countries, including the United States and 22 out of 27 EU members so far.