Kosovo Miners Suspend Strike at Trepca

Striking Trepca miners on Friday announced that they were suspending further strike action for a month, to give the government time to decide the future of the complex.

The temporary suspension of the strike was decided following negotiations between the miners and the manager of Trepca, Ahmet Tmava.

Tmava said that "the government would report within a month about the procedure relating to the status of Trepca."

The announced privatization of Trepca last week increased tensions between the Serbian and Kosovo governments as each claims rights to the mines - Serbia because it does not recognise Kosovo's independence.

The Trepca issue may come up at the next round of the EU-led dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, which will deal with unresolved political and administrative issues between them.

Around 725 Kosovo Albanian miners in the middle and southern chain of the Trepca mining complex started a strike last Tuesday.

The strike started following the decision of the Kosovo government to back away from a deal to transform the mines. 

Miners want the government and parliament to ratify a law "transforming the Trepca complex into a public enterprise in which case the government of Kosovo is the owner," Musa Mustafa, spokesperson for the Trepca miners, told Balkan Insight.