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Friday, September 16, 2011

Kosovo takes over disputed border crossings



The Kosovo government announced it had begun to deploy its police and customs, Friday, Sept. 16 in the morning at two border points in dispute with Serbia, in an area of northern Kosovo inhabited by about 45,000 Serbs around the city of Mitrovica, the Kosovo authorities have no control. Serbs have blocked roads leading to border crossings in Jarinje and Brnjak, scene of clashes this summer, when the NATO force, KFOR, had to deploy.

"The implementation plan of the operation of the Government of Kosovo has begun," said Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hajrudin Kuci, a local television. "The plan was completed one hundred percent so far and it is important that there were no incidents" to the two border posts, he added.


These border crossings where the Kosovo government, dominated by ethnic Albanians, had tried in July to deploy police and customs, the anger of the local Serb population and incidents in which a policeman Kosovar Albanian killed. Serbia does not recognize the declaration of independence in 2008.

Thursday night, the Serbs trucks parked across the road near Jarinje, closed to traffic passing by KFOR since the incidents of July, where soldiers of the international force remained deployed. Other trucks also blocked the road leading to the passage of Brnjak, where dozens of Serb protesters gathered, witnesses said.

In New York, Edmond Mulet, Assistant Secretary General for UN peacekeeping to peace, said Thursday night was "very concerned" about the situation and warned against any operation of crossings that "could lead to a new outbreak of violence. "The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, said the situation was "very dangerous", noting that "there is a real danger of conflict and bloodshed."

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