KFOR: Removal of Vehicles Left on Roads After Blockade in Northern Kosovo in Progress

Jarinje (BETAPHOTO/Ivan Petkovic/DS)

The KFOR mission announced on Jan. 3 that the removal of several vehicles that were left on roads after a blockade in northern Kosovo in December was in progress.

The Kosovo Interior Ministry released a statement saying that waiting times at the administrative line between Kosovo and Serbia were not too long.

The barricades, which were erected by local Serbs in protest over the arrest of former police officer Dejan Pantic, were removed on Dec. 29 after the Pristina Basic Court let Pantic out of jail and ordered that he be kept under house arrest. The Jarinje and Brnjak administrative crossings in northern Kosovo reopened for traffic on Dec. 30.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Dec. 30 that a joint statement by the EU and U.S., as well as KFOR, i.e. NATO, after which the Serbs in northern Kosovo removed the barricades, contained nothing that was bad for Serbia "nor a single thing that lowers the rights of Serbs or imposes any obligation on Serbs." Vucic said that before continuing the dialogue with Pristina it was necessary that the international community deliver on the guarantees that it had already given and behave in accordance with its promises.