Mihajlovic: Incidents show great ethnic tension in KiM

BELGRADE - Director of the Serbian government's media relations office Milivoje Mihajlovic said Saturday that the latest incidents in Kosovska Mitrovica were signs of a re-emergence of ethnic tension, caused by retrograde ideas from Pristina.

"The recent incidents in Kosovska Mitrovica showed that the bridge on the Ibar River requires increased vigilance and less tension from Pristina," Mihajlovic told Radio Television of Serbia (RTS).

"I think that these events show ethnic tension rising again, perhaps being caused by social turmoil, but above all by certain ideas circulated (in Pristina) lately, which are retrograde," said Mihajlovic.

Commenting on statements recently made by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Kosovo Foreign Minister Hasim Taci about all-Albanian unification, Mihajlovic said that it was "an idea recycled from the past century."

Mihajlovic said that the idea was arousing nationalist passions and was dangerous, primarily because it had not been met with a strong condemnation by either the European Union or the United States.

The Brussels-based dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is a necessity and these talks cannot be stopped, said Mihajlovic.

Photo Tanjug, N. Milosevic (archive photo)