KFOR commander wants “barricades removed by Monday”

SOURCE: BETA, TANJUG

LEPOSAVIĆ -- KFOR Commander Erhard Drews has requested from representatives of the local self-governments in northern Kosovo to remove barricades from roads until Monday.

(Tanjug, file)

The meeting between Drews and mayors of four northern Kosovo towns was held on Saturday afternoon at the KFOR Camp Nothing Hill near Leposavić.

Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Krstimir Pantić has stated that the northern Kosovo municipal representatives asked for time to consult before they give their final answer to KFOR.

“Drews requested that we remove some barricades by Monday so KFOR troops could get basic supplies and we replied that it was a very short notice and that we needed to consult with our assemblies in order to get a mandate from them to continue the talks with General Drews,” he told reporters after the two-hour meeting.

Pantić stressed the meeting was constructive, that the mayors had presented local self-government and citizens’ views and told the KFOR commander that the barricades were not directed against KFOR but against the Priština authorities because they were planning on setting up its institutions in northern Kosovo.

“People don’t want to fight with KFOR, they don’t see an enemy in KFOR and Serbs will try to establish better cooperation with the military mission in the next period and earn back the trust that is seriously jeopardized,” he pointed out.

Pantić pointed out that they had asked the KFOR commander not to take any unilateral actions, especially not violent ones in northern Kosovo and not to try to remove the barricades because it would seriously threaten the existing fragile peace.

According to him, Drews stressed that he would try to bring food to his troops at the Jarinje and Brnjak administrative crossings on Monday.

Today's meeting between the KFOR commander and the municipal representatives was the first since the German general assumed command of the military mission in Kosovo and it was organized at the initiative of local self-governments in northern Kosovo.