Kosovo postpones election in ethnic-Serb-dominated north
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo on Saturday postponed a neighborhood election thanks Dec. 18 in 4 municipalities with a predominantly ethnic Serb populace, in an effort to defuse new tensions there that have also prompted relations with neighboring Serbia to deteriorate further.
But Serbia’s president reported he will formally ask for NATO permission to deploy Serbian troops in northern Kosovo, while conceding this was most unlikely to be granted.
The return of Belgrade’s troops to the former Serbian province could radically maximize tensions in the Balkans.
Previously, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani fulfilled with her country’s political leaders and made the decision to keep the vote in the northern municipalities on April 23 future calendar year.
The election in Northern Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and Leposavic was owing right after ethnic Serb representatives resigned their posts in November to protest a determination by Kosovo’s government to ban Serbia-issued automobile license plates.
Serb lawmakers, prosecutors and police officers also abandoned local govt posts.
Pressure in the north has been substantial in advance of the scheduled vote. This week, unidentified gunmen shot and wounded a Kosovo regulation enforcement officer, some election centers were being damaged and taking pictures was read in people municipalities.
Kosovo’s Interior Minister Xhelal Zvecla claimed Saturday that soon after the arrest of a previous Serb law enforcement officer accused of attacking election centers and officers, some roadways in the north have been blocked by “extremist groups.”
The Kosovar police presence a short while ago was greater in all those parts and the European Union’s rule of law mission, or EULEX has been current with its police officers much too.
Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008. But Belgrade, supported by Russia and China, has refused to figure out Kosovo’s statehood.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic explained Saturday that Belgrade will formally check with the commander of the NATO-led peacekeeper mission in Kosovo to deploy Serbian troops there, but added that he “has no illusions that this will be recognized.”
The request had been heralded Friday by Serbia’s key minister, who claimed that the lives of minority Serbs in Kosovo have been less than risk.
Serbian officers claim a United Nations resolution that formally finished Belgrade’s bloody crackdown on the vast majority Kosovo Albanian separatists in 1999 enables for some 1,000 Serb troops to return to Kosovo. NATO bombed Serbia to conclude the war and drive its troops out of Kosovo.
NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo given that the war would have to give a environmentally friendly gentle for Serb troops to go there, a little something remarkably not likely simply because it would de facto signify handing in excess of safety of Kosovo’s Serb-populated northern locations to Serbian forces.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s place of work claimed any such transfer from Serbia would be “an act of aggression” and an sign of “Serbia’s tendencies to destabilize the location.”
The European Union has warned Serbia and Kosovo to solve their dispute and normalize relations to be eligible for membership in the bloc.
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Llazar Semini described from Tirana, Albania.
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Comply with Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo on Saturday postponed a neighborhood election thanks Dec. 18 in 4 municipalities with a predominantly ethnic Serb populace, in an effort to defuse new tensions there that have also prompted relations with neighboring Serbia to deteriorate further.
But Serbia’s president reported he will formally ask for NATO permission to deploy Serbian troops in northern Kosovo, while conceding this was most unlikely to be granted.
The return of Belgrade’s troops to the former Serbian province could radically maximize tensions in the Balkans.
Previously, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani fulfilled with her country’s political leaders and made the decision to keep the vote in the northern municipalities on April 23 future calendar year.
The election in Northern Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and Leposavic was owing right after ethnic Serb representatives resigned their posts in November to protest a determination by Kosovo’s government to ban Serbia-issued automobile license plates.
Serb lawmakers, prosecutors and police officers also abandoned local govt posts.
Pressure in the north has been substantial in advance of the scheduled vote. This week, unidentified gunmen shot and wounded a Kosovo regulation enforcement officer, some election centers were being damaged and taking pictures was read in people municipalities.
Kosovo’s Interior Minister Xhelal Zvecla claimed Saturday that soon after the arrest of a previous Serb law enforcement officer accused of attacking election centers and officers, some roadways in the north have been blocked by “extremist groups.”
The Kosovar police presence a short while ago was greater in all those parts and the European Union’s rule of law mission, or EULEX has been current with its police officers much too.
Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008. But Belgrade, supported by Russia and China, has refused to figure out Kosovo’s statehood.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic explained Saturday that Belgrade will formally check with the commander of the NATO-led peacekeeper mission in Kosovo to deploy Serbian troops there, but added that he “has no illusions that this will be recognized.”
The request had been heralded Friday by Serbia’s key minister, who claimed that the lives of minority Serbs in Kosovo have been less than risk.
Serbian officers claim a United Nations resolution that formally finished Belgrade’s bloody crackdown on the vast majority Kosovo Albanian separatists in 1999 enables for some 1,000 Serb troops to return to Kosovo. NATO bombed Serbia to conclude the war and drive its troops out of Kosovo.
NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo given that the war would have to give a environmentally friendly gentle for Serb troops to go there, a little something remarkably not likely simply because it would de facto signify handing in excess of safety of Kosovo’s Serb-populated northern locations to Serbian forces.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s place of work claimed any such transfer from Serbia would be “an act of aggression” and an sign of “Serbia’s tendencies to destabilize the location.”
The European Union has warned Serbia and Kosovo to solve their dispute and normalize relations to be eligible for membership in the bloc.
———
Llazar Semini described from Tirana, Albania.
———
Comply with Llazar Semini at https://twitter.com/lsemini
