UN investigators in Kosovska Mitrovica

A team of UN investigators has arrived in Kosovska Mitrovica today where they continue to probe the March 17 unrest. The four-member team, led by Francis Ssekandi, arrived in the northern part of the divided town a little after 09:00 CET, to meet with one of the Serb leaders there, Marko Jaksic. UN investigators in Kosovska Mitrovica They also met with Milan Ivanovic and Nebojsa Jovic, both of the Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo, SNV. The investigators from the UN peacekeeping operations department, DPKO, started their work in Pristina on Monday, while they are set to travel to Belgrade on May 5. After the meeting today Jaksic, who is chairman of the Community of the Serb Municipalities and Settlements in Kosovo and Metohija said that he informed the UN team that the Serbs want the truth about the riots to be established, underscoring that "UNMIK wanted violence to break out." "It was violence pre-planned by UNMIK, who did not want negotiations. UNMIK chose March 17, the date which is remembered by [the 2004] pogrom of Serbs. They arrested judges as if they were the worst criminals. The violence that broke out should be a lesson for something of the kind never to happen again," said Jaksic. "Serbs do not want Albanian justice but their own, which would be under UN jurisdiction, and that is the main point of dispute," he stressed. The March 17 riots, which ended in one UNMIK police fatality and over 150 injured on both sides, started when UNMIK and KFOR troops raided a court building in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, to arrest 53 Serb judicial workers protesting there. Although the Serb judges and prosecutors were taken to Pristina, they were released the same day without being charged. But immediately after the raid the Serbs in town started clashing with international troops. March 17, Kosovska Mitrovica (Tanjug)

UN investigators in Kosovska Mitrovica

They also met with Milan Ivanović and Nebojša Jović, both of the Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo, SNV.

The investigators from the UN peacekeeping operations department, DPKO, started their work in Priština on Monday, while they are set to travel to Belgrade on May 5.

After the meeting today Jakšić, who is chairman of the Community of the Serb Municipalities and Settlements in Kosovo and Metohija said that he informed the UN team that the Serbs want the truth about the riots to be established, underscoring that "UNMIK wanted violence to break out."

"It was violence pre-planned by UNMIK, who did not want negotiations. UNMIK chose March 17, the date which is remembered by [the 2004] pogrom of Serbs. They arrested judges as if they were the worst criminals. The violence that broke out should be a lesson for something of the kind never to happen again," said Jakšić.

"Serbs do not want Albanian justice but their own, which would be under UN jurisdiction, and that is the main point of dispute," he stressed.

The March 17 riots, which ended in one UNMIK police fatality and over 150 injured on both sides, started when UNMIK and KFOR troops raided a court building in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, to arrest 53 Serb judicial workers protesting there.

Although the Serb judges and prosecutors were taken to Priština, they were released the same day without being charged. But immediately after the raid the Serbs in town started clashing with international troops.