Kosovo border with Serbia reopens, under guard

Nato troops reopened two demolished border checkpoints between Serbia and northern Kosovo today as thousands of Serbs continued their protests against the country’s independence.

For three days since Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority declared themselves the world’s newest country, Serbs there have shown their anger by destroying UN and Nato property, setting off small bombs and staging noisy rallies.

Chanting “We won’t give up Kosovo,” some 3,000 demonstrators today marched to a bridge in the tense Serb stronghold of Kosovska Mitrovica that divides the two communities. UN policemen sealed off the bridge and Nato helicopters hovered overhead.

Protesters expressed their anger over the swift recognition of Kosovo’s independence by world powers including Britain, the United States, France and today Germany. Some carried the flag of Spain, one EU nation that has refused to recognise Kosovo for fear it will encourage Spain’s own pro-independence movements.

After protesters demolished two crossings separating Kosovo from Serbia and torched UN border patrol cars yesterday, Nato troops reopened the roads this afternoon which they had sealed 24 hours earlier concerned that Serbian militants could cross over to fight in Kosovo.

New makeshift border checkpoints will be manned by Nato and UN police, but not by ethnic Albanian police officers who were there previously, local police officials said.

The commander of the Nato-led force in Kosovo, Xavier Bout de Marnhac, said that despite tensions in Serb-controlled northern Kosovo, the alliance will not be sending more troops to the region.

Kosovo Serb leader Nebojsa Radulovic demanded earlier today that the crossings with Serbia reopen – or “the Serbs will continue with the protests, with consequences we cannot predict.”

Serbs said bread, milk and other basics did not arrive from Serbia on Wednesday because of the border blockade.

Kosovo, which is 90 per cent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade’s control since 1999, when Nato launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A UN mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 Nato troops and KFOR, a multiethnic force, policing the province.

But Serbia and Kosovo’s Serbs, who make up less than 10 per cent of Kosovo’s population, refuse to give up Kosovo, a territory considered the ancient cradle of Serbs’ state and religion.

Some, including Russia, China and Spain, back Serbia in rejecting the move as a violation of international law and a dangerous precedent that could encourage separatists elsewhere.

But Germany, calling Kosovo’s independence a necessary step for stability in the region, recognised it as a new state today.

Austria and Norway also said they were taking steps to recognise Kosovo’s statehood.

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said diplomatic relations with those nations were permanently damaged. He said Serbia has recalled its ambassadors from Germany and Austria.

He said Serbia would fight “tooth and nail” for Kosovo – using all legal means.

Meanwhile the EU today formally launched its 1,800-strong mission in Kosovo to help the new nation build its police force and judiciary, a decision Russia sharply criticised.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called it illegal for the EU mission to send a mission to replace the UN without UN Security Council approval.