Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Kosovo Asks EU, US and Others to Denounce Serbia 'Provocation'

by Associated Press

   PRISTINA --

   Kosovo's foreign minister has written to his counterparts in the
   European Union, U.S. and other countries denouncing "numerous acts of
   provocation and aggression" from Serbia, an official said Thursday.
   The minister, Enver Hoxhaj, called on the EU, which facilitates
   Pristina-Belgrade talks to normalize ties, "to urge Serbia to remain
   committed to good neighborly relations," according to the official.
   "The Republic of Kosovo encourages the European Union ... to urge
   Serbia to remain committed to good neighborly relations and regional
   cooperation and not interfere in the domestic affairs of other
   countries or take provocative actions which aim for the destabilization
   of the region," the minister said in a three-page letter.
   The official spoke anonymously because he wasn't authorized to publicly
   comment on the letter. He didn't explain how and which countries were
   chosen, only mentioning "EU, U.S. and other countries."
   Kosovo-Serbia relations reached a crisis moment last weekend when a
   Serbian train, bearing signs reading "Kosovo is Serbia" and decorated
   in the colors of the Serbian flag and Christian Orthodox symbols, was
   turned back from the border with Kosovo.
   Hoxhaj considered the last incident with the train as "the last event
   in the chain of aggressive and provocative acts that Serbia has
   undertaken against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the
   Republic of Kosovo."
   The minister mentioned that earlier in January, Ramush Haradinaj, a
   former Kosovo prime minister and a former guerrilla commander in
   Kosovo's 1998-1999 war for independence from Serbia, was detained in
   France as Serbia demanded his extradition to face war crime charges.
   Pristina says Haradinaj has twice been cleared of such charges by a
   U.N. tribunal.
   In December, the Serb ethnic minority in Mitrovica put a concrete wall
   on the northern part of the bridge on Ibar River, calling it a
   technical support barrier against a landslide. Kosovo protested, and
   its parliament voted to demolish the wall.
   Hoxhaj said that Pristina has "acted with political maturity and in
   full accordance with domestic and international rules when countering
   Serbia's hybrid threats through peaceful dialogue and diplomatic
   methods."
   Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but that hasn't been
   recognized by Belgrade.
   Serbia, backed by Russia, has sought to maintain influence in Kosovo,
   especially in the north where most of the country's Serb minority
   lives. NATO-led troops have controlled Kosovo's territory since a
   three-month air war in 1999 to stop a bloody Serbian crackdown against
   ethnic Albanian separatists.