NATO, Serbs in standoff over Kosovo barricades

NATO confronted Serbs manning a roadblock in northern Kosovo on Tuesday but agreed to wait 24 hours for a compromise that will allow its KFOR force to supply troops in the sensitive area, Serb officials said. A KFOR convoy turned back from one of the main roadblocks on the road to the disputed Brnjak crossing with Serbia after the agreement, the Serb mayor of nearby Zubin Potok told AFP. The convoy approached the roadblock as a "test" of KFOR's demand that all 16 roadblocks set up by Kosovo Serbs on roads leading to the Bnjak and Jarinje crossings be removed by Tuesday, according to spokesman Uwe Nowitzki. Tuesday morning the barricades were still all there and Serbs stepped up their numbers to guard them, reporters on the ground said. Zubin Potok mayor Slavisa Ristic said: "We have agreed with KFOR representatives that they return to their bases and await the outcome of the meeting Wednesday" of the four Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo. That meeting is set to approve a compromise allowing KFOR to supply their troops in the area occasionally while Serbs maintain the barricades, set up to keep Kosovo Albanian customs and police officials away from the border posts. There was no immediate comment from KFOR on the reported deal. Dozens of Serbs gathered Tuesday in front of the main roadblock on the main bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica, the town that divides the Serb north from the Kosovo Albanian southern part of the city. The bridge is a major flashpoint for ethnic riots. Some 40,000 Serbs live in northern Kosovo where they make up the majority in a number of towns, including the northern part of Mitrovica. They refuse to recognise the authority of the government in Pristina, which unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The local Serbs are angry over a move by the Pristina government in September to put Kosovo Albanian customs and police officials on the border, fearing that their access to Serbia proper will be severely limited. Following incidents at the Brnjak and Jarinje border crossings, Serbia walked out of EU-brokered talks with Kosovo launched in March and aimed at solving day-to-day problems. Belgrade insists that the crisis must be solved before it can resume talks, an EU-set condition for Serbia's candidacy status in the 27-member block. Serbia's minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic, on Monday called on KFOR to give local Serbs more time to remove the roadblocks pending Wednesday's meeting of local officials. "I want to believe that KFOR will give time and space for the local politicians to speak to the protesters because there is clearly a mood to allow KFOR to supply the posts with food, water and medication," the minister told Blic newspaper. The latest unrest in northern Kosovo started in late July when a trade row spilled over into violence after Pristina ordered its security forces to take over two crossings on the border with Serbia to enforce a briefly imposed ban on Serbian goods. Serbs in northern Kosovo reacted angrily and an ethnic Albanian police officer was killed and four injured in ensuing clashes. NATO troops stepped in when the Jarinje border post was set on fire and bulldozed, apparently by ethnic Serbs. After an EU-mediated compromise, mutual trade bans were lifted but Pristina's move to send customs officials to the crossings sparked renewed protest.