Kosovo reopens the main border crossing with Serbia, thus easing the blockade

Kosovo reopened its biggest border crossing with Serbia on Thursday, hours after Serbs protesting in the country’s north vowed to remove roadblocks, easing a rise in tensions that has alarmed world powers.

Both the European Union and the United States have been pressuring Kosovo and Serbia to back down from an escalating standoff that has led Belgrade to place its army on full combat alert.

Serbs in northern Kosovo, who have been erecting barricades since December 10 to protest the arrest of a former Serb policeman – the latest in a long series of sticking points – agreed to start removing them after he was transferred to house arrest.

Many of the barricades appeared to still be up as of Thursday morning, although authorities indicated the process could take some time.

The tension was still high. Two burnt-out trucks filled with gravel sat on a bridge near the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, some 50 kilometers from the reopened Merdare border crossing. Kosovo police said they were investigating an arson attack.

Around 50,000 Serbs living in northern Kosovo refuse to recognize the Pristina government or Kosovo’s status as a separate country. They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and their government.

Albanian-majority Kosovo declared its independence with Western backing after the 1998-1999 war, in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanians.

Kosovar police reported that they had reopened the Merdare border crossing – the most important for the transport of goods by road linking this landlocked state with Western European countries – after the barricades on the Serbian side were removed. from the border

Two other border crossings with Serbia in northern Kosovo have been closed since December 10.

Kosovo has long been a source of tension between the West, which has backed its independence, and Russia, which supports Serbia in its efforts to block Kosovo’s entry into world organizations such as the United Nations.

The Kremlin on Wednesday rejected accusations by the Kosovar interior minister that Russia was influencing Serbia to destabilize Kosovo, saying Belgrade defends the rights of ethnic Serbs.