Growing concern over situation in northern Mitrovica
International concern grew on Thursday as EULEX police used tear gas on Thursday in an attempt to fight back Serb demonstrators trying to approach the area in the district of Brdjani in northern Kosovska Mitrovica where the ethnic Albanians have been reconstructing their houses for six days now.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, April 30, 2009
The members of EULEX police used tear gas to chase off the Brdjani inhabitants who tried to cross "the yellow line" separating the ethnic Albanians and Serbs in this municipality.
The Serbs request an agreement regarding the reconstruction of houses in this district.
„A political solution should be found for the Brdjani district in northern Mitrovica through a dialogue between Serb and Albanian communities", EULEX spokesman Hans Christian Klassing said.
In Vienna, Russian permanent representative in the OSCE Anvar Azimov stated on Thursday that Russia is concerned over the deterioration of the situation in northern parts of Kosovo.
At the OSCE Permanent Council, Azimov underscored that conflicts between the Serb population, making up the majority of the population in that part of Kosovo, and international forces, which had fully taken the side of the Kosovo Albanians, are particularly disturbing.
„The current events are indicating the danger from destabilization of the region and escalation of tension in the region as a whole", Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported Azimov as saying.
„All international forces, including the OSCE Mission, must be balanced, taking into consideration the interests of both sides, and by clearly respecting the spirit and wording of UN Security Council Resolution 1244", underscored Azimov.
He expressed confidence that the problem, as well as the issue of refugees and internally displaced persons, have to be solved only through dialogue between the international civil presence and representatives of the Kosovo Albanians and Serbs, with a leading role of the U.N. Mission in Kosovo.
In Belgrade, the Serbian parliament Committee on Kosovo has fully supported the protests in Kosovska Mitrovica.
The Committee urged the Serbs to sustain from any provocations and incidents that would jeopardize the citizens' lives and to do their best to reach an agreement in a peaceful manner and through negotiations.
The international community was also urged to honour and adhere to the Protocol on Voluntary and Sustainable Return signed in 2006, with the aim to ensure a safe return of 230,000 Serbs to Kosovo, who were expelled from their homes in 1999 and whose houses are now occupied by Albanians.
The Committee particularly appealed on the police and KFOR not to exert pressure on Serbs, but rather to secure peace and safety of all people living in Kosovo, in accordance with their mandate.
