Northern Kosovo Serbs want truth about agreements
President of the Zvecan municipality Dragisa Milovic said on Thursday that northern Kosovo Serbs would like to know the full truth about the agreements reached in Brussels, and that they had partly blocked the road in the village of Rudare on Thursday when they had heard that the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) units, border police and customs officers had headed for the north of the province as part of a convoy.
(kosovocompromisestuff) Thursday, January 24, 2013
"Citizens came peacefully here, blocked the road, the decision being to send a message to Belgrade and the international public that these people want the whole truth about the agreements from Brussels," Milovic said.
"One kind of messages could be seen in the media, while they are trying to implement other things on the ground," he estimated.
These people do not want to pay customs duties (at the administrative crossing), but we want to pay fees to our state, Serbia, and not to some state we do not recognize, Milovic noted.
According to Milovic, citizens have the right to hear the truth from the state leadership.
We expect that the Serbian president and prime minister will receive us, because we do not want institutions of any other state here. We want to protect our institutions, that is to have the institutions of the state of Serbia, he added.
Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci reached a temporary agreement on the collection of fees at the Brnjak and Jarinje crossings in northern Kosovo in Brussels last week, with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton as an intermediary. It was agreed that the collected fees would go to a fund that would be formed by the EU, and would be used exclusively for the north Kosovo, in which Serbs constitute a majority.
Kosovo Serbs stopped three EULEX vehicles in the village of Rudare in the Zvecan municipality on the main road Pristina-Raska at around 12: 40 p.m. on Thursday. The road is partly blocked with large concrete blocks, so that vehicles could pass between them.
After a short stop and talk with Serbs who blocked the road, the three EULEX vehicles returned in the direction of Pristina.
About 500m away from the gathered Serbs, there are around 20 armored vehicles of the German KFOR contingent which formed a column that also includes several vehicles of the KPS special unit.
"One kind of messages could be seen in the media, while they are trying to implement other things on the ground," he estimated.
These people do not want to pay customs duties (at the administrative crossing), but we want to pay fees to our state, Serbia, and not to some state we do not recognize, Milovic noted.
According to Milovic, citizens have the right to hear the truth from the state leadership.
We expect that the Serbian president and prime minister will receive us, because we do not want institutions of any other state here. We want to protect our institutions, that is to have the institutions of the state of Serbia, he added.
Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci reached a temporary agreement on the collection of fees at the Brnjak and Jarinje crossings in northern Kosovo in Brussels last week, with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton as an intermediary. It was agreed that the collected fees would go to a fund that would be formed by the EU, and would be used exclusively for the north Kosovo, in which Serbs constitute a majority.
Kosovo Serbs stopped three EULEX vehicles in the village of Rudare in the Zvecan municipality on the main road Pristina-Raska at around 12: 40 p.m. on Thursday. The road is partly blocked with large concrete blocks, so that vehicles could pass between them.
After a short stop and talk with Serbs who blocked the road, the three EULEX vehicles returned in the direction of Pristina.
About 500m away from the gathered Serbs, there are around 20 armored vehicles of the German KFOR contingent which formed a column that also includes several vehicles of the KPS special unit.
