NATO issues Kosovo shoot to kill warning
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Published: 30 September, 2011, 14:50
Kosovo Force KFOR soldiers guard the border crossing Jarinje between Serbia and northern Kosovo (AFP Photo / Dimitar Dilkoff)
NATO's force in Kosovo has said it will shoot to kill anyone who crosses a barricaded area near the disputed checkpoint on Serbia's border with Kosovo, reports RT's Aleksey Yaroshevsky.
On releasing this message, the allied pro-Kosovo forces brought in bulldozers and demolished the barricade built by ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo at the border with Serbia.
But Serbs at the remaining barricades will not leave their positions.
"We have lost a battle, but not the whole war," they told RT.
The Serbs added that many of them felt compelled to erect barricades in Kosovo by fears that Belgrade might abandon them in pursuit for EU membership.
Earlier in the morning over 100 KFOR troops arrived at the scene and forced the Serbs to leave the intact at the time barricade, threatening the use of lethal force. KFOR said they would shoot anyone who fails to comply with the demand. They also ordered journalists to leave the immediate area.
The situation is tense but not violent with Serbs pulling back and grouping at a nearby bridge. The barricade secured by NATO troops is just one of about half a dozen constructed by Serbs, so the stand-off is continuing and an escalation of tension remains a possibility. Alexey Yaroshevsky reports that he saw a group of Serbs tearing down a road sign posted by KFOR, indicating that their fighting spirit is far from lost.
The conflict zone in Kosovska Mitrovica is split between the Albanians and the Serbs, and as RT's crew witnessed last night, the latter are currently reinforcing their barricades with fresh piles of sandbags being placed across roads to block access to KFOR forces and the Kosovo police.
NATO helicopters are also bringing additional troops to the conflict zone, and are reported to be flying over the border crossings approximately every 30 minutes.
This is the closest barricaded area to the border posed between Kosovo and Serbia. The crossing, formerly controlled by Serbia, was seized by Kosovo police backed by the alliance two weeks ago.
Friday's developments come two days after clashes took place between the Serbs in northern Kosovo and the NATO-led troops, when the latter reportedly fired on Serb protesters in the Kosovska Mitrovica region, allegedly responding to an attack by the crowd.
Some 11 men injured on Tuesday in those clashes are still being treated for their wounds in hospital. Despite KFOR and NATO's claims that they used only rubber bullets and tear gas grenades to pacify the crowds, most of the injured have gunshot wounds. Doctors tending to the injured have confirmed to RT that they have undergone surgery to remove bullets from their bodies.
Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, has criticized NATO for a crude breach of the UN resolution on Kosovo, saying the alliance has failed to remain neutral.
"In this situation, NATO has definitely taken Pristina's side," Rogozin told Russia's TV channel Rossiya 24.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has also expressed deep concern over news suggesting an emergency carriage taking the injured to hospital was fired on by Kosovo forces during Tuesday clashes at the disputed checkpoint.
On Wednesday, members of the United Nations Security Council gathered for emergency consultations in New York to discuss the situation in southern Serbia, but failed to reach a common stance on the conflict in the turbulent region.
On Thursday, Kosovo's Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi said that roadblocks put up by local Serbs will be removed, pledging, though, that ethnic Albanian-dominated authorities will make no unilateral moves, AP reports. The removal of barriers is "inevitable" as they prevent "freedom of movement for people and goods,'' the minister said, adding that any action would be coordinated with the NATO-led KFOR forces and the European Union mission.
http://rt.com/news/kosovo-kfor-clash-serbs-771/
