Kosovo peacekeepers dismantle roadblock, Serbs build another

Nov 9, 2011, 7:02 GMT

Belgrade - NATO peacekeepers in northern Kosovo (KFOR) used teargas to disperse a crowd of Serbs early Wednesday from one of their roadblocks, Serbian national television RTS said.

The Serbs, who dominate the north of the otherwise mostly Albanian Kosovo, erected roadblocks months ago to prevent the government in Pristina from taking control of the border with Serbia proper.

Immediately after KFOR troops chased them away from their barricade, near the border with Serbia, the Serbs dumped a few truckloads of gravel nearby on the same road, RTS said.

The obstacles mostly consist of gravel, logs and parked heavy vehicles. They are under the permanent guard of the local population.

On Wednesday, KFOR also sealed two of the many illegal border crossings that were opened across the border to Serbia since the crisis erupted in July and escalated in September.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and was recognized by the United States, 22 out of the 27 European Union nations and nearly all the countries in the region.

But Serbs in the north, financially backed by Belgrade, remain fiercely opposed to Pristina's rule and particularly to its bid for control of the enclave's border with Serbia.

The longstanding ethnic tension in Kosovo escalated in late July when the Pristina government moved to seize control over the two border crossings in the enclave by force.

The border crossings, Jarinje and Brnjak, have been under control of the EU law-enforcing mission EULEX, with Kosovo-appointed officers present, since September.

But there has virtually been no traffic through the contested gates as Serbs blocked the roads and opened illegal crossings. Whenever KFOR closed one, a new one has been opened within hours.

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