The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Serbs Demand Probe Into Kosovo Riots
| 18 March 2008 |
Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic protested to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon over what he described as “unacceptable and excessive violence” against Serb protesters and called for “an investigation about how the incident developed.”
Some 100 civilians, 37 NATO peacekeepers and 65 international police officers were injured when clashes erupted in Serb-dominated northern Mitrovica on Monday after UN riot police stormed a UN-run court in northern Kosovo, retaking it from the Serbs who had seized the building on Friday.
In Mitrovica, the situation remained calm on Tuesday. NATO peacekeepers which on Monday received authorisation to use force against protesters, remained deployed throughout the town.
“It must be established who ordered the use of force … particularly after it happened after successful talks,” between Slobodan Samardzic, Serbia’s Minister for Kosovo and the Deputy Head of the UN Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, on defusing tensions, Jeremic’s letter read.
Jeremic also urged Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the UN and the chairman of the Security Council to launch a discussion within this top body about the incidents and to keep “a watchful eye on the situation.”
In an earlier statement Monday, Serbia’s Western-leaning President Boris Tadic warned that all sides involved in conflicts in Kosovo’s north should refrain from "crossing the red line."
"That would be extremely dangerous for Serbia’s interests in Kosovo and Serbian politicians must bear that in mind,” he said. He also urged for more talks aimed at defusing tensions.
On Tuesday, Milivoje Mihajlovic, the head of Serbian government’s information bureau said that “an investigation against those responsible on both sides must be launched without hesitation.”
“In a crime both the victim and the culprit have names. The person who killed Ukrainian policeman should be brought to justice as well as the one who fired the shot which blew away half of the skull of a Serb protester,” Mihajlovic told Balkan Insight.
Nebojsa Vukomanovic, an employee of Kosovo Police Service, remained in a coma Tuesday. With a severe head gunshot wound received during the clashes he was transferred from Mitrovica to a hospital in Serbia where he underwent a brain surgery.
Oliver Ivanovic, a moderate politician from Mitrovica said that “although the situation in the town has calmed down,” he believes that the UN authorities will now maintain pressure.
“The only chance for a positive solution are talks by political leaders who must assume their responsibilities now. Serbs will not find a solution through conflict with UNMIK as they are the only international institution we recognise,” Ivanovic told Balkan Insight.
Ivanovic said Samardzic’s swift arrival in Mitrovica on Monday was a positive step “and it was good he (Samardzic) took over control over the situation which was threatening to spin out of control.”
