World | Other World Stories
Kosovo and Serbia road link sealed
Nato peacekeepers closed off roads between Serbia and northern Kosovo and armed UN policemen guarded smoldering border checkpoints, bracing on Wednesday for more protests by Serbs incensed by Kosovo's declaration of independence.
- AP
- Published: 01:15 February 21, 2008
Mitrovica: Nato peacekeepers closed off roads between Serbia and northern Kosovo and armed UN policemen guarded smoldering border checkpoints, bracing on Wednesday for more protests by Serbs incensed by Kosovo's declaration of independence.
For three days, Kosovo's Serbs have shown their anger over Sunday's declaration by destroying UN and Nato property, setting off small bombs and staging noisy rallies.
In Jarnije and Brnjak, protesters used plastic explosives and bulldozers to wreck border checkpoint posts and tipped over metal sheds housing UN customs service offices.
They vandalised and torched passport control booths and UN border patrol vehicles.
Serbs planned more protests yesterday to express their anger at the swift recognition of Kosovo's independence by world powers including the United States, France - and now Germany.
Nato troops sealed off the northern border, concerned that Serbian militants could cross over to fight in Kosovo.
Serbs make up only a tiny fraction of Kosovo's 2 million people, more than 90 per cent of whom are ethnic Albanians.
Most of Kosovo's Serbs live in the north, near the Serbian border.
Kosovo has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when Nato launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
A UN mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 Nato troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.
More from Other World Stories
More from World
News Editor's choice
-
Allies quit ruling coalition in Nepal
Political row could trigger months of street protests and violence
-
Qatar blaze 'started at nursery'
Fire killed 19 including 13 children, at Doha’s main shopping centre
-
Jagan jailed over illegal assets
Andhra Pradesh leader accused of corruption, cheating, conspiracy
