The blockade near the main border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia has been lifted, according to state broadcaster RTS and Kosovo police, who say the move paves the way for easing rising tensions in the volatile region.
Cars and trucks were queuing in front of the border crossing from the Serbian side where the roadblock was set up, the report said on Thursday, while Kosovo police confirmed the crossing was officially reopened.
It came hours after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Serbian protesters had agreed to begin removing barricades that have blocked roads for 19 days in northern Kosovo.
Vucic, who met with Serbs from northern Kosovo in the Serbian town of Raska, said on Wednesday evening that the barricades would be removed but mistrust would remain.
“Those who are playing [the] The very existence of Serbs in Kosovo must know that just as we did not allow it now, we will not allow it in the future either,” he said.
Kosovo police officers patrol the bridge that divides the Albanian south and the Serb-dominated north of the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica [Visar Kryeziu/AP]
The European Union and the United States, which are mediating talks between Belgrade and Pristina to resolve the tense dispute, have guaranteed that none of the Serbs who set up barricades will be prosecuted, he added.
The EU and the US said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they welcomed “assurances from the leadership of Kosovo confirming that there are no lists of Kosovo Serb citizens to be arrested or prosecuted for peaceful protests/barricades”.
“At the same time, the rule of law must be respected and any form of violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the statement added.
πͺπΊ and πΊπΈ call for maximum restraint and immediate de-escalation in northern Kosovo. We are working with Ptd VuΔiΔ and PM Kurti to find a political solution in the interest of stability, security and well-being of all local communities. Full statement π
β Nabila Massrali (@NabilaEUspox) December 28, 2022
Serbian state media reported that Vucic had traveled to the Kosovo border for talks with Kosovo Serbs to try to persuade them to end their blockade.
“Just think again… what do we get if the barricades remain? I can tell you 500 things we can get if they are removed,” Vucic said during the meeting, state-controlled public broadcaster RTS reported.
Serbia had put its army on high alert on Monday as the situation in northern Kosovo appeared to spiral out of control with Kosovo closing its largest border crossing with Serbian territory on Wednesday.
On Tuesday night, dozens of protesters on the Serbian side of the border used trucks and tractors to stop traffic leading to Merdare, the largest crossing between the neighbors. The move forced Kosovo police to close the entry point on Wednesday.
“This illegal blockade has prevented the free movement and movement of people and goods, therefore we invite our citizens and compatriots to use other border points for movement,” a Kosovo police statement said.
Pristina had asked NATO-led peacekeepers to clear the barricades erected on Kosovo soil, adding that its own forces were also capable of removing the protesters.
The EU and US had expressed concern about the situation and called for an immediate de-escalation, saying they were working with Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti to find a political solution to one of the worst outbreaks in years between the neighbors of the Balkans. .
“We call on everyone to exercise the utmost restraint, to take immediate action to unconditionally de-escalate the situation and to refrain from provocations, threats or intimidation,” they said in their joint statement.
Earlier on Wednesday, a former Kosovo Serb police officer whose arrest on December 10 had sparked violent protests by Kosovo’s Serb minority – including road blockades – was released and placed under house arrest following a request by prosecutors , a spokesman for Pristina. Basic Court told Reuters.
Dejan Pantic was arrested for assaulting a police officer on duty. The court decision angered Kosovo government officials, including Prime Minister Kurti and Justice Minister Albulena Haxhiu.
“I’m very curious to see who the prosecutor is that makes this request, who the pretrial judge is that approves it,” Kurti said.
Italian soldiers from KFOR, part of the NATO peacekeeping force, park in front of the barricade near the village of Rudare [Visar Kryeziu/AP]
For more than 20 years, Kosovo has been a source of tension between the West, which supported its independence from Serbia in 2008, and Russia, which does not recognize Pristina and has supported Serbia in its efforts to block Kosovo’s membership to global organizations such as the United Nations.
The Kremlin, however, denied claims by Kosovo’s interior minister this week that Russia was influencing Serbia’s handling of ethnic tension to destabilize Kosovo, saying Serbia was defending the rights of ethnic Serbs.
The estimated 50,000 Serbs living in northern Kosovo, who believe it is still part of Serbia, resist any move they see as anti-Serb and refuse to recognize the government in Pristina or Kosovo’s status as a separate country.
They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and their government.
Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, with Western support, after a 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened against Serbian forces to protect ethnic Albanian citizens .