Serbian convoy enters Kosovo amid fears over partition

[Crvena zvezda]

Serbian convoy enters Kosovo amid fears over partition of new state
KFor troops rescue staff from torched border posts
· Warning of more protests as EU envoy arrives
Peter Beaumont in Mitrovica and Julian Borger in Pristina The Guardian, Wednesday February 20 2008 Article history ·
This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday February 20 2008 on p20 of the International section. It was last updated at 00:44 on February 20 2008.
Up to 1,000 men, some suspected of being members of the Serbian Ministry of Interior police, crossed into northern Kosovo yesterday amid rising fears that minority Serbs living in the new state's north would attempt effectively to partition Kosovo along the Ibar River.
After two days of rapidly rising tensions between Serbs and Albanians following Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia on Sunday, eyewitnesses counted close to 200 cars and buses crossing from southern Serbia full of men.

In a day of high drama, masked Serbs also torched two border posts separating Serbia from Kosovo, located at Jarnije and Banja about 18 miles north of Mitrovica, with bulldozers and plastic explosives.Nato troops later closed down the roads leading to the checkpoints, cutting off the only link between northern Kosovo and Serbia.

Several incidents were reported overnight, including masked attackers throwing grenades at UN and Albanian-owned buildings. No one was reported injured.

UN and Nato officials seemed to have been taken largely by surprise by yesterday's events, which saw KFor troops being sent in to rescue personnel trapped at the border posts.

Protesters also tipped over metal sheds that housed Kosovo's customs service and sent them sliding down a hill and into a river. They also vandalised and set fire to passport control booths. "It was very dangerous and the police had to withdraw and call for help from Nato peacekeepers," said Veton Elshani, a spokesman for Kosovo's multi-ethnic police force.

In Belgrade, the Serbian government minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, hailed the attacks, saying: "Today's action is in accordance with the general [Serbian] government policies.

"Belgrade has the intention to take over the customs in northern Kosovo," Samardzic told private B92 television. "The customs points were intended to become part of [Kosovo's] state border and we are not going to let that happen."

The attacks and arrival of the convoys from Serbia were an ominous reminder of the enduring potential for violence in the new nation of Kosovo as it embarks on European-supervised independence.

The EU's new envoy, Pieter Feith, arrived in Pristina yesterday, accompanied by the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, to mark the beginning of Kosovo's new era. Feith will lead a "stability mission" of 1,800 EU police and legal experts who will run the country's court system for the next few years.

In the coming days, Feith, a Dutch diplomat with extensive Balkan experience, will also take over leadership of the International Civilian Office, which will give him the power to overturn legislation and sack Kosovan officials.

European officials insisted he would try to keep a low profile and use his powers only in extreme circumstances when, for instance, the country's democracy or minority rights were in jeopardy.

Yesterday's incidents were an illustration of the central problem facing Feith and the Albanian majority government in Pristina - the refusal of Kosovo's Serb minority and the Belgrade government to acknowledge the former province's sovereignty.

Elsewhere in the Serb-dominated north witnesses also spoke of police stations once occupied by the joint Serb-Albanian Kosovo police service now displaying the Serb flag. The fears that Serbia is intending to put its police force into the north follow rumours being circulated among Kosovo police service officers in Mitrovica that Serb members are planning to resign en masse in the coming days.
The attacks and the arrival of a convoy from Serbia come as further demonstrations are planned against the declaration of independence in Mitrovica and Serbian cities this week.

[Menydh]

I wonder what's NATO going to do about it. Solana has been forced to declare that there are no disagreements over Kosovo. Which obviously means that there are disagreements, or else he would have kept quiet.

Time to send those Albanians the message that Anatolia looks like a good option for the future.

[Crvena zvezda]

If they are onyl 1,000 Serb Ministry of Interior forces in Kosovo it means resolution 1244 is still in place. That resolution governs Kosovo and gives Serbia the right to send 1,000 troops or soldiers to Kosovo.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Crvena zvezda

If they are onyl 1,000 Serb Ministry of Interior forces in Kosovo it means resolution 1244 is still in place. That resolution governs Kosovo and gives Serbia the right to send 1,000 troops or soldiers to Kosovo.

They know that. You know that. But I didn't know that and I haven't seen it mentioned in any news media.

[Marcus Marulus]

NATO troops intervene as Kosovo border burns

[Menydh]

Dhimmi B'stards!

[Crvena zvezda]

Apparently another group of Serbs has entered Kosovo:

Ex-servicemen cross into Kosovo21 February 2008 | 16:39 | Source: Beta MERDARE -- Several hundred protesting war veterans have around 13:30 CET crossed the administrative line to Kosovo.

The scene at Merdare today (Beta)

They are demonstrating the province's ethnic Albanians' unilateral declaration of independence.

A Kosovo police, KPS, cordon and barbed wire met the protesters soon after they crossed the checkpoint, but the veterans removed the obstacles from the road and continued deeper into the province.

Wearing former Yugoslav Army (VJ) uniforms, they threw stones at KPS members, and set tires on fire close to their outpost.

After this, KFOR soldiers, wearing full riot gear, appeared and formed a new cordon, while KPS withdrew.

This was followed by the arrival of a new KFOR reinforcement, with more soldiers and an APC.

The ex-servicemen are currently in the territory of the province, with a new barbed wire obstacle, this time set by KFOR, preventing them from advancing.

They are shouting slogans including, "Kosovo is ours", "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia", and, "We won't give Kosovo away".

No injuries were reported so far.

[Crvena zvezda]

UNMIK holds Serbian students at boundary22 February 2008 | 15:35 | Source: B92, Tanjug JARINJE, PRIŠTINA -- Several hundred students from Belgrade, Niš and Kragujevac are held at the Jarinje administrative line crossing.

Several hundred students from Belgrade, Niš and Kragujevac are held at the Jarinje administrative line crossing. The outpost was set on fire by protesting Kosovo Serbs this week, which resulted in the withdrawal of the Kosovo police, KPS. UNMIK and KFOR now man the crossing.

The dean of the University of Belgrade, Branko Kovačević, told Tanjug news agency that the international forces deployed in the province are refusing to allow the buses to enter Kosovo, but that the students are determined to stay at Jarinje until they are let through.

A group of some 60 students, however, managed to reach Kosovska Mitrovica where they were headed, when they crossed the administrative line on foot. A bus, sent from the Serb-dominated north Kosovo town, then met them 12 kilometers from Jarinje.

UNMIK and KFOR are since this morning allowing entry into the province from central Serbia only to the residents and those deemed as not likely to "threaten public order".

"We have opted for this move after last night's events in Belgrade and buses carrying demonstrators are strictly prohibited entry, while those carrying citizens will be allowed," a spokesman for KPS in Priština told the agency.

The students are headed to Kosovska Mitrovica to support their colleagues there, who hold daily peaceful protests at 12:44 CET, to underline that the latest U.S. and EU moves over Kosovo violate international law, and more specifically, UN Resolution 1244.

[Menydh]

A joint Russian-Serbian military manouvres in the NATO style would be a nice move now.

[Crvena zvezda]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

A joint Russian-Serbian military manouvres in the NATO style would be a nice move now.

Their are some indications that such a manouver is possible. I am fully in favour of this.
Report: Envoy Warns Russia Could Use Force Over Kosovo -AFP