Serbs agree to unblock roads in Kosovo but tensions still simmer
- Removal of the road barricades is expected to defuse tensions between Belgrade and Pristina
- Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade refuses to recognise it
Serbs in Kosovo agreed to start removing road barricades erected in protest against the largely ethnic-Albanian government, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said, even as he vowed to protect demonstrators that have raised the spectre of renewed conflict.
Vucic made the announcement late Wednesday after negotiations with representatives of the community that has blocked Kosovo’s borders with Serbia.
Earlier, the US and the European Union called for an immediate end of the stand-off, and Germany called on the Serbs in northern Kosovo to remove the “illegal” barricades.
Vucic read from a list of conditions set by protesters, with whom he held talks in the southern-Serbian city of Raska, that demanded the government in Pristina stop arresting Serbs and refrain from prosecuting protesters.
“If the terror continues, we will shut off north of Kosovo forever for Pristina’s institutions, and we demand guarantees that Kosovo will never be recognised,” Vucic read from the demands in a live television broadcast. He said it may take a few days to remove the barricades.
The government in Pristina has condemned the protests and accused Serbia of fomenting unrest to create instability and thwart Kosovo’s sovereignty after it declared independence in 2008.