2023-06-22 08:38:34
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has summoned the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo to an urgent meeting Thursday to try to stop a series of violent clashes near their border that are stoking fears of a new open conflict.
The bloc’s political chief, Josep Borrell, said he would hold “urgent meetings” with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels. It was not clear if the two leaders will meet face to face or if they will only talk separately with Borrell.
“We need an immediate de-escalation and new elections in the north with the participation of the Kosovar Serbs. This is paramount for the region and (the) EU,” Borrell tweeted before the talks. For years, the 27-nation bloc has been leading the dialogue to reconcile the two enemies, albeit with little success.
Serbia and its former province Kosovo have been at odds for decades. The war they waged in 1998 and 1999 left more than 10,000 dead, mostly Kosovar Albanians. Belgrade has refused to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.
Tensions flared again last month after Kosovar police seized municipal buildings in the Serb-majority north of the country to install ethnic Albanian mayors who were elected in local elections boycotted by Serbs.
Serbia has put its border troops on high alert in the face of recent clashes between Kosovar Serbs on one side and Kosovar police and NATO-led peacekeepers on the other. In recent weeks, NATO has sent reinforcements to the area.
Tensions continued last week with the explosion of three stun grenades near police stations in northern Kosovo, while Kosovo Serbs protested outside municipal buildings.
Borrell has been trying for days for Kurti and Vucic to travel to Brussels, but they had refused until now.
However, Vucic said that he will not speak to Kurti in the Belgian capital. “I have nothing to talk about with him,” he said in statements to the state channel RTS. According to the president, there can be no negotiations until the Serbs detained for attacking the Kosovar police and NATO troops are released.
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Associated Press writer Dusan Stojanovic in Belgrade contributed to this report.
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