International forces attacked by Kosovo Serbs

17/03/2008

Several UN police officers and KFOR troops were injured during clashes with Serb protesters in Kosovo's ethnically divided town of Mitrovica on Monday. It was the worst violence since Kosovo declared independence four weeks ago.

(CNN, Reuters, AP, AFP, DPA, BBC, B92 - 17/03/08; UN News Centre - 16/03/08; AFP - 15/03/08; Reuters, Balkan Insight - 14/03/08)

Kosovo Serbs throw stones at KFOR soldiers in Mitrovica on Monday (March 17th). [Getty Images]

The UN administration in Kosovo withdrew its police forces from Serb-populated parts of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica on Monday (March 17th) after clashes broke out with Serb protesters. A number of international troops serving with KFOR were injured.

"There are reports of possible gunfire and some grenades used against UN police and KFOR," CNN quoted UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko as saying from Pristina.

He also explained that "the very serious security situation" in the northern Kosovo town was the reason behind UNMIK's decision to pull its police out of the region.

"We do have a substantial number of police officers there but they're under constant attack, and that's why the police commissioner decided to hand over the dealing of this situation, as we speak, to KFOR," Ivanko added.

The announcement was made after hundreds of Serbs clashed with international forces, who were conducting an operation to retake the UNMIK-controlled courthouse in Mitrovica. Three days earlier, up to 300 local Serb protesters seized it by force.

Many of the protesters were said to be former court employees who lost their jobs after Kosovo came under UN administration following the end of the 1998-1999 conflict there. As they seized the building, they ripped the UNMIK plaque from its facade and removed the UN flag, replacing it with that of Serbia.

UNMIK officials held talks with the protesters at the weekend in a bid to persuade them to leave the premises, but they refused.

Several hundred UN police officers and KFOR troops were reportedly involved in Monday's pre-dawn operation, launched after French peacekeepers blocked access roads to the court compound in Mitrovica's Serb-populated north. Fifty-three Serbs were reportedly arrested in the courthouse, but about 20 are said to have escaped after rioters attacked a UN convoy.

Kosovo declared independence on February 17th. Serb communities have so far refused to acknowledge the move, staging several challenges both to the UN and the Kosovo authorities – including, early in March, the takeover of a railway line by Serbian Railways.

"The situation is quite tense, but police and NATO are out in force," the AP quoted the spokesman for Kosovo Police Service (KPS) forces serving in the north, Besim Hoti, as saying. The KPS is a local force established in 1999.

On Monday, hundreds of Serb protesters gathered outside the court building, throwing stones and firecrackers at members of the international forces participating in the raid. They used tear gas and flare-grenades to disperse the crowds.

Three UN police officers and two KFOR soldiers were wounded in an explosion and were evacuated, according to a statement from the local Kosovo police force.

Hoti said he believed the blast, which occurred after UN police moved into the court premises, "was a hand grenade" activated in the compound's yard. A later report by Reuters quoted a police official as saying that 13 Polish policemen had suffered non life-threatening injuries during the riots in Mitrovica. Serbian sources say ten demonstrators were injured.

At least one UN vehicle and a KFOR truck are said to have been damaged after being set on fire during the clashes.

Over the weekend, the deputy chief of UNMIK, Larry Rossin, demanded an end to attempts at undermining UNMIK's authority. Meeting with Serbian Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic on Sunday (March 16th), he noted a recent speech before the UN Security Council by Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, who said UNMIK was the exclusive administrative authority in Kosovo and that UN Resolution 1244 is the only legal framework that should be applied.

Serbia should immediately undertake steps to end attacks against UNMIK that "violate Serbia's promises given to the UN Security Council," Rossin said.