Kosovo Halts Road Work After Serbian Monastery Protests

The decision to halt construction of the road connecting Decan/Decani with Plave in Montenegro, following the demands of the nearby Serbian Orthodox monastery, has caused conflicting reactions in Kosovo.

Visoki Decani Monastery protested over the construction of the road, claiming that it was being done within its five-km Special Protective Zone, SPZ.

The Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, urged diplomats to check for themselves that the route of the road had existed before, in order to avoid problems and misinformation.

"There is misinformation about the work on one of Decan's roads," Haradinaj wrote on Facebook on Monday.

"I invite diplomats to go to the scene, to see the situation, and to be convinced that the road that is being renovated existed before," Haradinaj wrote.

He wrote that the government was obliged to repair and manage roads throughout Kosovo, adding that "Kosovo citizens have always lived in harmony with minority communities, respecting the religious and cultural heritage of all without distinction".

Confirming that the work had stopped in the meantime, the OSCE mission in Kosovo welcomed the decision on Saturday.

"We recall that any road work inside the SPZ must be agreed through the Implementation and Monitoring Council, IMC. We call on all stakeholders to seek a mutually acceptable solution," the statement issued by the OSCE read.

The chief of the European Union office in Kosovo, Nataliya Apostolova, and the US Ambassador to Pristina, Greg Delawie, also supported the decision.

But the local authorities oppose the halting of the work on the road. The local MP, from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, Rasim Selmanaj, said the monastery was damaging the area's interests.

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