JOSEP BORRELL WARNS AGAINST ATTACKS ON EU MISSION IN KOSOVO AS TENSIONS SOAR

Sun 11 December 2022:

In the midst of high tensions in the country’s north, the EU’s foreign policy leader declared on Sunday that the organization will not allow attacks against the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), Anadolu Agency reported.

A stun grenade was used to attack an EULEX car patrol overnight in Rudare, according to the mission, but no one was hurt and no property was damaged.

“This attack, as well as the attacks on Kosovo Police officers, are unacceptable,” it said. “We strongly condemn the violent acts perpetrated by armed persons in northern Kosovo, including against the international community.”

Josep Borrell tweeted that the “EU will not tolerate attacks on EULEX Kosovo or use of violent, criminal acts in the north.”

“Barricades must be removed immediately by groups of Kosovo Serbs. Calm must be restored,” he said, adding that the international personnel will continue to coordinate with Kosovo authorities.

He urged all actors to avoid escalation.

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NATO also condemned the attack on the European mission in Kosovo.

“Any such attacks are unacceptable and those responsible must be held to account,” spokesperson of the alliance Oana Lungescu said on Twitter.

Expressing determination to support the stability of Kosovo, she called on those responsible to refrain from more provocative actions and urged authorities in Kosovo to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Kosovo officials said late Saturday that shots were fired from different locations at police units that were on official duty near northern towns.

“Police units in self-defense were forced to respond with firearms to criminal persons/groups, who retreated and moved away in an unknown direction … gunshots were heard in several different locations,” it said.

There was no official information about injuries or damages.

Earlier, Kosovo police closed two border crossings in the north with Serbia.

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Tensions first rose after Kosovo said it in October would demand that drivers replace car plates issued in Yugoslavia with those of Kosovo. Under EU mediation, Belgrade and Pristina reached in late November an eleventh-hour deal to defuse tensions.

But the uneasy standoff escalated after Pristina scheduled local elections in the Serb-majority municipalities for 18 December, with the main Serb political party saying it would stage a boycott.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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