Serb municipalities "could break off cooperation with EULEX"

Serb municipalities "could break off cooperation with EULEX"

ZVEČAN -- Councilors from municipal assemblies in northern Kosovo on Thursday voiced concern over the announced plans of the Priština authorities to form a Kosovo army.

"We see this as an act of open threat to security in the region and the safety of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija", North Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Goran Rakić said at the assemblies' joint session in Zvečan.

Фorming a Kosovo army "is unacceptable and contrary to UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which envisions no army in the province whatsoever", Rakić warned.

"It is an UN-administered territory and there can be only one armed force there - Kfor," Rakić explained.

"We want to inform all international representatives in Kosovo that we want a fair and just relationship, but that we are not ready to act as mediators if the people take to the streets of our municipalities, because we will be with our people in that situation," Rakić noted.

The members of the four municipal assemblies demanded that all recently arrested Serbs be released pending trial.

The leader of the Citizens' Initiative Serbia, Democracy, Justice, Oliver Ivanović was arrested in northern Kosovska Mitrovica in late January on suspicion of alleged war crimes.

For reasons that remain unknown, five other Serbs - four of whom serve in the Kosovo police - were also arrested in the Strpce area on March 4.

Kosovska Mitrovica Assembly chair Ksenija Božović "demanded that Priština and the international community immediately end their campaign of arrests, intimidation and constant escalation of tensions in Serb-populated areas in Kosovo."

The assembly...