Envoys from EU, U.S., meet Kosovo Serbs as differences resurface

Kosovska Mitrovica, KOSOVO – Envoys from the European Union and america met officers in Kosovo’s ethnically divided metropolis of Kosovska Mitrovica on Thursday as long-standing variations between Belgrade and Pristina flared once more, triggered by a dispute over automotive quantity plates.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. However Belgrade accuses Pristina of trampling on the rights of minority Serbs, who account for five% of Kosovo’s 1.8 million inhabitants, which is 90% Albanian.

EU-sponsored talks in Brussels earlier this month failed to beat variations which centre on a plan by Pristina to require native Serbs to change their automotive quantity plates from Serbian to Kosovo ones.

On Sunday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic mentioned minority Serbs working in Kosovo establishments would go away their jobs except a deal is reached to finish what he known as their “persecution”.

After assembly Kosovo Serb representatives within the northern, predominantly Serb a part of Kosovska Mitrovica, EU mediator Miroslav Lajcak mentioned the talks centered on “listening to first-hand” about their place.

“No matter determination is made, the Serbs who stay there are on the heart of that call and each unhealthy determination worsens their lives and an excellent determination improves it,” he mentioned.

Lajcak and U.S. envoy Gabriel Escobar had been anticipated to satisfy Vucic in Belgrade afterward Thursday. They've additionally met senior Kosovo officers in Pristina.

Many Serbs in Kosovo have already modified their registration plates and identification papers, however some 50,000 residing within the north, who see Belgrade in Serbia as their capital, created highway blocks final month in protest on the requirement earlier than NATO peacekeepers oversaw their elimination.

The state of affairs calmed after Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti agreed below U.S. and EU strain to postpone the quantity plates rule till Sept. 1. Kurti and Vucic additionally agreed to proceed discussions earlier than Sept 1.

The row broke out greater than twenty years after NATO airstrikes compelled Serbian forces to cease violence towards majority Albanians within the former Serbia’s southern province, resulting in Kosovo’s independence.