| Albanians want "more security in north", Serbs react |
| 23 June 2008 | 13:55 -> 19:29
| Source:
Beta |
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA --
The mayor in control of the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica has asked the international peacekeepers to "step up patrols" in northern Kosovo.
The Ibar River divides Kosovska Mitrovica into northern, Serb dominated, and southern, Albanian inhabited parts.
But Bajram Rexhepi says that more control is needed, "in order to prevent possible incidents and deterioration of security".
He told a meeting of a council in charge of security of southern Kosovska Mitrovica that "some incidents that took place lately have been overcome thanks to the cool-headedness and restraint of the Albanians".
Rexhepi listed these incidents as the removal of wreaths from Avni Haradinaj's monument in Bošnjačka Mahala, and the hoisting of the Serbian national flag in the village of Rudare in northern Kosovo.
Bošnjačka Mahala is located in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, and is mostly inhabited by Albanians and Bosniaks. No Serbs live in the southern part of the town.
The mayor also called on security structures to undertake adequate measures and "prevent creation of new problems".
On top of that, "unknown persons" have been spotted in northern Kosovo, he said.
These persons, Rexhepi told the meeting, "could be members of the Serbian MUP".
Serbs react
Local Serb leaders in northern Kosovska Mitrovica were quick to react to this on Monday, telling Rexhepi "to take care of the part of the town that he at the helm of, because it is a criminal hotbed", instead of asking for a troop increase in the region.
"The president of the South Mitrovica municipality ought to keep a watchful eye on the Albanian part of the town, which is the center of drug and weapons trade, and white slavery. Besides, it's controlled by a mafia headed by former terrorists, today's political leaders," Serb National Council for Northern Kosovo and Metohija President Milan Ivanović told Beta news agency.
A Democratic Party (DS) official in the province, Goran Bogdanović, said in a separate statement that he was "not surprised that lately Albanians are trying to pin everything they do wrong on Serbs".
"Rexhepi's statement aims to demonstrate that the Serbs in the north of Kosovo are the destabilizing factor and that for this reason, with the help from the international community, control must be established on the whole territory of Kosovo and Metohija," he said.
"Albanians know full well that Serbs are not prepared to accept neither Kosovo's independence nor constitution, and therefore they wish to cause tension in the north, to provoke conflict and deepen the mistrust between the two ethnic communities," Bodganović said, adding that the Serbs there "will not fall for such provocation, and will instead do all they can to preserve peace".
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