Serbia nixes Kosovo talks as border crisis continues

Oct 7, 2011, 13:28 GMT

Belgrade - Serbia's minister for Kosovo said that his government will sit out talks with its northern neighbour until a border crossing issue affecting Serbs living in Kosovo is solved.

Speaking at a meeting with European Union officials, Goran Bogdanovic said his government must secure border crossing points in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo before discussing 'technical issues' - energy sharing, telecommunications, and participation in regional initiatives - with Kosovo.

'We agreed that dialogue should resume as soon as possible and that problems throughout Kosovo - including northern Kosovo - should be resolved through dialogue,' Bogdanovic said after meeting EU diplomat Robert Cooper.

Talks between Serbia and its mostly Albanian former province began under EU moderation in March.

Brussels told Belgrade that it must 'make progress' in talks with Kosovo before it may launch an application for EU membership.

Belgrade ceased dialogue with Kosovo on September 28 in the wake of border control clashes between NATO peacekeepers and Serbs in northern Kosovo.

Serbs outnumber Albanians in the north, and are hostile to any governance from Pristina, Kosovo's capital city.

Bolstered financially and politically by Belgrade, Serbs living in Kosovo have resisted controls on borders between their enclave and Serbia proper since July.

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