Reuters
NATO thwarted overnight a bid by Kosovo Serbs to assert their authority in a northern slice of the newly independent republic, restoring control on the border with Serbia where crowds had burnt down two crossing points.
"I just want everybody to be fully aware of my determination to maintain, restore a safe and secure environment wherever in Kosovo," said General Xavier de Marnhac, commander of the NATO-led peacekeeping force, KFOR. He said Kosovan and U.N. authority would be restored at the crossings, known as Gate 1 and Gate 3-1, which would reopen once the destroyed customs and police buildings had been repaired.
The test of Western resolve to back up Kosovo's independence with military force came on Tuesday, two days after Pristina declared its secession from Serbia, a step the West has backed.
NATO said the attacks were clearly an organised challenge.
Destroying the border posts was "perhaps not pretty, but legitimate", said Serbia's Minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, who added that Serbia planned to take over customs authority in northern Kosovo.
Kosovo's U.N. administrator Joachim Ruecker said the action was no legitimate at all. "The Serbian government is bound by their commitment to refrain from all acts that could be seen as encouraging violence and this was really violence so I disagree with that statement," he told a news conference with KFOR commander de Marnhac.
The crossings were empty for some hours on Tuesday after Kosovo and U.N. police pulled out and called NATO for help. Some 40 French and U.S. troops moved in and put coils of razor wire across the Jarinje post, where Serbs had burnt down the buildings and pushed official vehicles over a ravine. The peacekeepers were harassed by stone-throwing Serb men but held the position without major incident, backed by Polish U.N. riot police. NATO also secured the other crossing near Zubin Potok town. The NATO force commander accused "some local leaders" in the Serb-dominated north of putting women and children at risk. "Everybody has been very lucky, the way it went. But the leaders should think very deeply on their responsibility when they trigger this type of demonstration," de Marnhac said.
Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said the comments by the Serbian minister Samardzic "belong to the past and do not at all fit with the current situation". Pristina's declaration of independence from Serbia, quickly recognised by the United States and EU powers, was denounced by Serbia and Russia as an illegal violation of a U.N. resolution on Kosovo, whose population is mainly Albanian.
Serbia has recalled envoys and plans a mass protest march in Belgrade for Thursday but says it will not resort to violence. The border attacks highlight the challenge facing an EU law-enforcement mission deploying soon to Kosovo, which has been under U.N. administration for nearly nine years following NATO's air war to push out Serb forces.
The EU mission does not have a U.N. mandate. Serbia does not recognise its authority, and Serb ally Russia has warned it will not permit any attempts at "repressive measures should Serbs in Kosovo decide not to comply". "The EU's unilateral decision to send a mission ... to Kosovo ... is in breach of the highest international law," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
Russia, which has no troops in the Balkans, says Western recognition of Kosovo will open a "Pandora's Box" of separatist tension across Europe. Pieter Feith, the EU's new special representative in Pristina, told a news conference Kosovo Serbs should stay and feel welcome in the new republic but the Serb-dominated north would not be permitted to opt out. "It is the intention of the European Union to deploy its presences ... the rule-of-law mission, for police, judges, prosecutors ... that we will deploy all over Kosovo," he said. "And all over the territory of Kosovo includes the north." "It should be clear to the Serb community that we are not a threat to their way of life and they should not feel afraid."
EU defence ministers will review security arrangements in the Balkans on Thursday. NATO says it has no immediate plans to reduce the strength of KFOR, which is about 17,000 made up by contingents from 35 countries led by Germany, Italy, France and the United States. (Writing by Douglas Hamilton; edited by Richard Meares)
BBC NEWS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has declared the EU's police and justice mission to Kosovo illegal. He told reporters that Brussels' "unilateral decision... is in breach of the highest international law".
[..]Students in the Serb-dominated town of Mitrovica are organising daily protests at 12.44 pm, referring to UN Security Council resolution 1244 under which Serbia insists it still has sovereignty of Kosovo under international law.
Russia has already objected to Kosovo's declaration of independence, agreeing with Belgrade's interpretation of the UN resolution and raising the prospect of the established world order being destroyed.
[..]Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said that by "pursuing the unilateral scenario of solving the Kosovo problem... the European Union encourages separatism in the world".STANCE ON RECOGNITION
- For: Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France, UK, Austria, US, Turkey, Albania, Afghanistan
- Against: Russia, Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Cyprus
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