The US and the European Union (EU) on Wednesday called for an “unconditional easing” of tension in northern Kosovo, where the Serbian military has strengthened its presence on the border.
“We call on everyone to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate steps to unconditionally de-escalate the situation,” a US State Department and EU spokeswoman said in a joint press release.
Both Brussels and Washington asked the parties — Serbia and Kosovo — to “abstain from any provocation, threat or intimidation” and said they were “cooperating with President [sérvio, Aleksander] Vucic, and with Prime Minister [kosovar, Albin] Kurti, to find a political solution that will ease tensions and succeed in maintaining the stability, security and well-being of all local populations”.
The two spokespersons also recalled that they can monitor the respect of human rights in the territory through the European mission in the region, Eulex.
Kosovo today closed its main border post with Serbia after Serbs set up barricades there in one of the region’s worst crises in recent years.
Last November, 600 members of Kosovo’s Serbian minority, who were part of the police and public administration, resigned after Pristina announced that she would ban the movement of vehicles with Serbian number plates.
Tensions escalated over the following days and on December 10, several hundred Kosovo Serbs set up roadblocks in northern Kosovo, halting traffic at two key border points with Serbia.
The position of Brussels and the US was announced after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo sent a letter to EU member states asking for measures to be taken to oblige Serbia to cooperate in the peaceful resolution of the tensions.
In the document, the Kosovo government asks the international community to encourage Serbia to resume dialogue and provide a chronological overview of the latest incidents in the north of the region.
“Serbia is at best deliberately trying to destabilize Kosovo in order to hinder the progress of the dialogue, especially in the context of the new plan proposed by the EU (backed by France and Germany) to normalize relations,” refers to the letter, quoted by the Kosovo Online news portal.
The Kosovo government also points out that the escalation of the conflict resembles the ‘ modus operandi ‘ used by the Serbian authorities in the 1990s.
The letter not only mentions the disturbances since the construction of barricades by the Serb minority in Mitrovica, a town in northern Kosovo, to the attacks on journalists of the Kosovo press.
“We strongly condemn attacks on journalists by extremists in northern Kosovo. Over the past three weeks, several journalists have been repeatedly attacked by criminal groups seeking to destabilize Kosovo,” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz said in a statement. message published on the social network Twitter.
“The international community must urgently intervene in Belgrade and protect the free press. This must end. Now,” the minister added.
The German government also today expressed its “great concern” about the situation and called for “constructive actions” leading to the unblocking of closed border posts.
For its part, Russia today referred to the crisis as “a very dangerous scenario”, with Russia’s ambassador to Belgrade, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, admitting on Tuesday that a provocation could occur at any time leading to another armed attack. conflict.
In a press conference this morning, Russian presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov added that the Kremlin is closely monitoring the situation and will continue to support Serbia.
Populated mainly by ethnic Albanians, Kosovo unilaterally gained independence from Serbia in 2008 following a war between separatists and guerrillas in Belgrade, but Serbia has never recognized the area’s independence.
Source: DN
