Serbs set up roadblocks amid rising border tensions

Sep 14, 2011, 6:16 GMT

Belgrade - Tensions in northern Kosovo continued to mount Wednesday as Serbs again erected roadblocks late Tuesday in protest at the planned takeover of border crossings in their enclave.

Several trucks and buses blocked the road north of Kosovska Mitrovica and later tons of gravel were dumped to reinforce the barricade.

Peacekeepers of the NATO mission in Kosovo, KFOR, spent several hours trying to persuade the Serbs to remove the obstacle, but without a result, the B92 news portal said in Belgrade.

Serbs also maintained barricades at Leposavic, Rudare and Zubin Potok, near the border with Serbia proper, it said. With that, all main roads in the enclave were at least partially blocked.

The government of the mainly Albanian Kosovo plans to assume control over the two border checkpoints in the north on Friday, saying it was in line with a trade agreement it made with Serbia.

But the Serbs, who are a clear majority in the northern section, and Belgrade warn that control over the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings was not a part of the deal.

Pristina insists that it will send its police and customs officials to the contested borders, while Kosovo Serbs and Belgrade say they will not accept it and threatened to paralyze the north.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci told Radio Free Europe on Tuesday that Kosovo will assume control over the borders with the support of the 'international factor,' the United States and European Union.

Belgrade is 'without any influence in this process,' he was quoted as saying in the Albanian-language broadcast.

A former Serbian province, Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Belgrade continues to oppose the move and supports the resistance of Serbs in the north to Pristina's authority.

The US staunchly supports Kosovo. The EU deployed a law-enforcing mission to Kosovo in 2008 to help it build institutions, but virtually no progress has been achieved in the north owing to the Serb hostility to Pristina's rule.

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