<http://www.nytimes.com/> <http://www.nytimes.com/> The New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/>
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/ads/spacer.gif <http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/adx_click.html?type=goto&page=www.nytimes.com/printer-friendly&pos=Position1&sn2=336c557e/4f3dd5d2&sn1=1f9138fd/4b4c09bb&camp=foxsearch2008_emailtools_810898d-nyt5&ad=savages_88x3111.28.7.gif&goto=http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thesavages/> _____ February 21, 2008 Serbs Press Their Drive to Control Northern Kosovo By DAN BILEFSKY CABRA, Kosovo <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/serbia/kosovo/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> — Serbs in northern Kosovo on Wednesday continued what appeared to be a drive to force a partition three days after the ethnic Albanian majority declared the province’s independence from Serbia <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/serbia/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> . A mob of 300 Serbs wielding clubs and tools gathered on a road near this small village of ethnic Albanians in northern Kosovo, prompting NATO <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/north_atlantic_treaty_organization/index.html?inline=nyt-org> to send armored vehicles and tanks to head them off. Earlier, ethnic Albanian police officers, part of Kosovo’s multiethnic police force, were forced out of the neighboring Serb village, where they were patrolling with fellow Serbs. It was the latest sign that Serbs in Kosovo, incensed by the declaration of independence, are trying to assert control over the northern part of Kosovo, the majority of whose residents are ethnic Serbs. NATO peacekeeping troops closed off roads between Serbia and northern Kosovo, and United Nations <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org> police officers guarded checkpoints still smoldering after they were burned down Tuesday by several hundred Serbs in what the police said appeared to be an organized operation, The Associated Press reported. Indicating that the violence could be a prelude to an effort to force a partition of northern Kosovo, the Serbian minister for Kosovo, Metohija Slobodan Samardzic, said the destruction of the United Nations checkpoints was in line with Serbia’s policies. “It might not be pleasant, but it is legitimate,” he said, adding that Serbia would be seeking to enlarge its operations in northern Kosovo, where it provides education, culture and health services to the ethnic Serb population. In Mitrovica, a northern Kosovo city that is divided between Serbs in the north and ethnic Albanians in the south, 3,000 demonstrators marched to the bridge dividing the communities, chanting, “We won’t give up Kosovo!” The daily protest, begun this week, starts precisely at 12:44 p.m., in reference to United Nations Security <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/security_council/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Council Resolution 1244, under which Serbia insists that it still has sovereignty over Kosovo under international law. Capt. Bertrand Bonneau, a spokesman for NATO’s 16,000-member peacekeeping force in Kosovo, said the peacekeepers were under orders to maintain security in all of Kosovo, including the north, and would not tolerate any action by either side that undermined this goal. The European Union <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/european_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org> on Wednesday formally began a program that will bring 1,800 police officers and judges to Kosovo to help administer its affairs. The move provoked criticism from Russia, which has supported the Serbs in opposing an independent Kosovo. Pieter Feith, the European Union’s special envoy, appealed to Serbs, who consider the mission an occupying force, to stop demonstrating. But European diplomats, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the subject for attribution, expressed worries that Kosovo’s Serbs could provoke ethnic Albanians, undermining whatever collective Serbian and Albanian authority remained in northern Kosovo, and entrenching Serbian control so that de facto partition became a political reality. “The Serbs appear intent on provoking an Albanian reaction and to make the international community’s mission here impossible, but we will not allow legal partition,” said one senior European Union diplomat. But another European diplomat said that if Serbs pursued de facto division, “there is not a lot that could be done.” The political temperature in Cabra, an agricultural village of about 70 ethnic Albanian families, has particular resonance because it was here in March 2004 that three ethnic Albanian boys drowned under mysterious circumstances, prompting Albanians to riot across Kosovo. As the Serb protesters gathered on the road outside the village Wednesday, local ethnic Albanians vowed they would stay to ensure that northern Kosovo remained in ethnic Albanian hands. Children wearing T-shirts with Albanian flags gathered to observe the peacekeepers’ tanks parked at the edge of the town. “This is my land, and we must stay here to show Serbia that this is Kosovo,” said Zuka Ilir, an unemployed 28-year-old. “But we are afraid. We don’t know what will happen.” Xhevadet Beka, a 26-year-old engineer, added: “I will stay here and fight if I have to. For now we put our faith in NATO, the E.U. and the United States. But we are very, very afraid that the Serbs will try and take over northern Kosovo, and it is impossible. We will not allow it.” Kosovo was placed under United Nations administration in 1999, after NATO intervened to halt repression by the Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/slobodan_milosevic/index.html?inline=nyt-per> , of ethnic Albanians, who make up 95 percent of the population. Yet the northern part of Kosovo — 15 percent of its territory — remains under de facto Serbian control. The Serbian leader of Kosovo, Nebojsa Radulovic, demanded Wednesday that the border between Serbia and Kosovo, sealed on Tuesday by NATO troops to keep militants from crossing into Kosovo, be reopened or “the Serbs will continue with the protests, with consequences we cannot predict.” Germany, meanwhile, joined the United States, France, Britain and seven other countries in recognizing Kosovo, calling Kosovo’s independence a necessary measure to stabilize the Balkans. Austria and Norway said they also were planning to recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty. The Serbian foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, addressed the European Parliament <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/european_parliament/index.html?inline=nyt-org> in Strasbourg, France, warning that diplomatic relations with countries that recognized Kosovo would be damaged. “This is going to have an impact on our future progress to European Union membership,” he said. DCSIMG http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/21/world/europe/21kosovo.html?ex=1204174800&en=6b7a9a517e416f9e&ei=5040 http://www.nytimes.com/adx/bin/clientside/452c63f4Q2F%299E6G%28UQ23Q24%21EEEKf%28%289Q2BE%21fQ236G
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