Checkpoints in north reopen, KPS leaves

The checkpoints in Jarinje and Brnjak, in northern Kosovo, were reopened to traffic at 15:00 CET Wednesday. This was confirmed by a Kosovo police, KPS, spokesman in Pristina, who also said UNMIK and KFOR will control the traffic through the administrative line with central Serbia. Checkpoints in north reopen, KPS leaves KPS will not be stationed at the checkpoints in Jarinje and Brnjak "until security conditions for this are created", it was also said. The north of Kosovo was peaceful this morning after demonstrations yesterday that destroyed two boundary crossings. But KFOR blocked ransacked checkpoints at the boundary, in the wake of violence that saw protesting Serbs blow up and set on fire Jarinje and Brnjak posts. The mayor of Leposavic, a small town on the very administrative line, that KFOR unsuccessfully attempted to block Tuesday during the trouble, told Beta news agency today that he and his associates have yesterday asked the NATO officials in the area to have the crossings reopened. "We will today make these demand in the form of an ultimatum. If the crossing is not free, Serbs will take part in protests whose consequences we cannot foresee," Nebojsa Radulovic was quoted earlier in the day. His colleague in the nearby Zubin Potok municipality Slavisa Ristic also told the agency that Serbs will stage fresh protests if KFOR does not allow traffic through the boundary posts. Serbs in the northern part of the province reject the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence adopted by ethnic Albanian leadership Sunday. It was expected that the crossings would open today at 18:00 CET. Yesterday, after news that Albanian customs officers were coming to take over the posts, Serbs organized the protest, torching and blowing up the huts that housed customs, and setting almost a dozen Kosovo police, KPS, vehicles on fire. The KPS officers asked KFOR to evacuate them as they withdrew from the crossings. There were no injuries reported on either side. Reuters said that prior to the NATO troops closing the crossings, its reporter saw UN police destroy official documents and remove computers from the half-wrecked post, then leave in a convoy of vehicles escorted by armored cars. "The crossing known as Gate 3-1, north of Zubin Potok town, was abandoned. Cars wit no number plates were passing unimpeded," the agency said. Today, barbed wire was spread on the bridge over the Ibar River, separating the northern, Serb, and southern, Albanian, parts of Kosovska Mitrovica, the largest town in the area. Speculation of a looming de facto partition of the province, which would, according to some reports, be signaled by a complete sealing off of all movement between the two parts of the town, is rife. One good indicator of this will be the ability of the new EU mission to the province, EULEX, to deploy in the north. Both local Serbs and Belgrade reject it, while they welcome KFOR and UNMIK to continue with their work. Reuters says that "Serbian state institutions are well entrenched in the enclave [sic], now with explicit Russian diplomatic backing." The agency refers to the warnings that came on several occasions during the past week, most recently at the UN Security Council meeting Sunday in New York, when Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: "We'll strongly warn against any attempts at repressive measures should Serbs in Kosovo decide not to comply with this unilateral proclamation of independence." The Brnjak crossing this morning (FoNet) KFOR, UNMIK warn Serbs, Russians warn KFOR, UNMIK KFOR Commander Lt. Gen. Xavier Bout de Marnhac said Wednesday that "certain leaders of Serbs from northern Kosovo are behind the incidents that occurred at the Jarinje and Brnjak control checkpoints", but did not name any names, Pristina-based Albanian-language electronic media reported. "Some local leaders from northern Kosovo have taken on themselves considerable responsibility, including to risk the lives of women and children in yesterday's operation," the French general was quoted. “Everyone should refrain from any provocative statement or actions”, De Marnhac said. “KFOR will react firmly against any individual or groups tempted to undermine the safe and secure environment and the freedom of movement Kosovo-wide,” he said. UNMIK mission chief Joachim Ruecker also condemned yesterday's events, describing them as "violence that will not be tolerated". In the meantime, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Aleksei Borodavkin has condemned "attempts of international representatives in Kosovo to launch repressive measures, contrary to their mandate, against the non-Albanians and their leaders in case they refuse to resign themselves to the illegal sovereignty of the Serbian province." A similar warning has also been sent to the temporary bodies of self government in Kosovo, Borodavkin said at a special session of the OSCE Permanent Council on Kosovo. He pointed out that the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence, as well as the recognition of that illegal act from the part of several OSCE member countries, "represented the most serious foreign policy mistake that might have extremely negative consequences." The Russian diplomat expressed "deepest concern" over the developments in the Serb municipalities in Kosovo, particularly in the northern part of the province, in the region of Kosovska Mitrovica. "It is highly probable that the refusal of the majority of local residents to recognize the unilaterally proclaimed independence may isolate these territories," the Russian diplomat underlined. In that case, Kosovo Albanians and the countries that support them will be responsible for the beginning of the Kosovo split," Itar-Tass quoted Borodavkin as saying.

Checkpoints in north reopen, KPS leaves

KPS will not be stationed at the checkpoints in Jarinje and Brnjak "until security conditions for this are created", it was also said.

The north of Kosovo was peaceful this morning after demonstrations yesterday that destroyed two boundary crossings.

But KFOR blocked ransacked checkpoints at the boundary, in the wake of violence that saw protesting Serbs blow up and set on fire Jarinje and Brnjak posts.

The mayor of Leposavić, a small town on the very administrative line, that KFOR unsuccessfully attempted to block Tuesday during the trouble, told Beta news agency today that he and his associates have yesterday asked the NATO officials in the area to have the crossings reopened.

"We will today make these demand in the form of an ultimatum. If the crossing is not free, Serbs will take part in protests whose consequences we cannot foresee," Nebojša Radulović was quoted earlier in the day.

His colleague in the nearby Zubin Potok municipality Slaviša Ristić also told the agency that Serbs will stage fresh protests if KFOR does not allow traffic through the boundary posts.

Serbs in the northern part of the province reject the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence adopted by ethnic Albanian leadership Sunday.

It was expected that the crossings would open today at 18:00 CET.

Yesterday, after news that Albanian customs officers were coming to take over the posts, Serbs organized the protest, torching and blowing up the huts that housed customs, and setting almost a dozen Kosovo police, KPS, vehicles on fire.

The KPS officers asked KFOR to evacuate them as they withdrew from the crossings.

There were no injuries reported on either side.

Reuters said that prior to the NATO troops closing the crossings, its reporter saw UN police destroy official documents and remove computers from the half-wrecked post, then leave in a convoy of vehicles escorted by armored cars.

"The crossing known as Gate 3-1, north of Zubin Potok town, was abandoned. Cars wit no number plates were passing unimpeded," the agency said.

Today, barbed wire was spread on the bridge over the Ibar River, separating the northern, Serb, and southern, Albanian, parts of Kosovska Mitrovica, the largest town in the area.

Speculation of a looming de facto partition of the province, which would, according to some reports, be signaled by a complete sealing off of all movement between the two parts of the town, is rife.

One good indicator of this will be the ability of the new EU mission to the province, EULEX, to deploy in the north. Both local Serbs and Belgrade reject it, while they welcome KFOR and UNMIK to continue with their work.

Reuters says that "Serbian state institutions are well entrenched in the enclave [sic], now with explicit Russian diplomatic backing."

The agency refers to the warnings that came on several occasions during the past week, most recently at the UN Security Council meeting Sunday in New York, when Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said:

"We'll strongly warn against any attempts at repressive measures should Serbs in Kosovo decide not to comply with this unilateral proclamation of independence."

KFOR, UNMIK warn Serbs, Russians warn KFOR, UNMIK

KFOR Commander Lt. Gen. Xavier Bout de Marnhac said Wednesday that "certain leaders of Serbs from northern Kosovo are behind the incidents that occurred at the Jarinje and Brnjak control checkpoints", but did not name any names, Priština-based Albanian-language electronic media reported.

"Some local leaders from northern Kosovo have taken on themselves considerable responsibility, including to risk the lives of women and children in yesterday's operation," the French general was quoted.

“Everyone should refrain from any provocative statement or actions”, De Marnhac said.

“KFOR will react firmly against any individual or groups tempted to undermine the safe and secure environment and the freedom of movement Kosovo-wide,” he said.

UNMIK mission chief Joachim Ruecker also condemned yesterday's events, describing them as "violence that will not be tolerated".

In the meantime, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Aleksei Borodavkin has condemned "attempts of international representatives in Kosovo to launch repressive measures, contrary to their mandate, against the non-Albanians and their leaders in case they refuse to resign themselves to the illegal sovereignty of the Serbian province."

A similar warning has also been sent to the temporary bodies of self government in Kosovo, Borodavkin said at a special session of the OSCE Permanent Council on Kosovo.

He pointed out that the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence, as well as the recognition of that illegal act from the part of several OSCE member countries, "represented the most serious foreign policy mistake that might have extremely negative consequences."

The Russian diplomat expressed "deepest concern" over the developments in the Serb municipalities in Kosovo, particularly in the northern part of the province, in the region of Kosovska Mitrovica.

"It is highly probable that the refusal of the majority of local residents to recognize the unilaterally proclaimed independence may isolate these territories," the Russian diplomat underlined.

In that case, Kosovo Albanians and the countries that support them will be responsible for the beginning of the Kosovo split," Itar-Tass quoted Borodavkin as saying.