Kosovo Government Rejects NATO-Serb Deal
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — Kosovo’s government has rejected a new agreement between NATO peacekeepers and minority Serbs over control of two disputed border crossings with Serbia in northern Kosovo.
In an August 3 statement, NATO said Serbs had agreed to remove roadblocks in the region.
It also said NATO soldiers will continue to control the two disputed border crossings with Serbia until at least mid-September.
Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian-led government, however, which seeks to control trade at the border, has rejected the agreement, calling it in a statement “unacceptable and unfeasible.”
Clashes broke out last week after the Kosovo government sent special police forces to the border posts in the Serb-majority region in an attempt to enforce a ban on imports from Serbia.
One ethnic Albanian policeman was shot dead, and one of the border posts was set on fire by ethnic Serbs.
Kosovo authorities imposed the import ban after Serbia refused to lift an embargo on Kosovo that was imposed after the 2008 declaration of independence by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leadership.
Serbia rejects Kosovo independence, saying it regards the territory as still part of Serbia.
