Joint NATO-EU operation at Kosovo-Serbia border

14/10/2011

NATO and EU have started a joint operation of their KFOR and EULEX missions in the border region between Northern Kosovo and Serbia on October 13th. This measure is aimed to defuse tensions in this area after ethnic Serbs recently started blocking several roads towards border control posts.

 

“This morning, KFOR and EULEX began joint operations to establish control in the Jarinje gate vicinity,” the NATO force informed in a press release. “KFOR started the operation at the request of EULEX to help prevent the illegal use of the bypass around the official gate and to stop smuggling.” NATO called upon the local population to abstain from road blockades and barricades as well as from any illegal protest activities and emphasized its right to “remove barricades when the circumstances are appropriate.” NATO and EU started controlling vehicles at an alternative road to the blocked gates which is used by Serbs and managed to calm down the situation. Recent incidents at the border between Kosovo and Serbia originate from a dispute over the enforcement of a trade ban on Serbian goods by Kosovo’s authorities. KFOR had intervened in July after ethnic Serbs had set fire to and bulldozed the Jarinje crossing point.