EULEX says north is "dangerous zone"

20 January 2011 | 12:02 | Source: Tanjug

PRIŠTINA -- Kosovo Albanian Interior Minister Bajram Redzepi urged the EULEX mission to withdraw from northern Kosovo, after EULEX declared this area a dangerous zone. "The situation in (Kosovska) Mitrovica has not changed, and EULEX is not able to operate effectively. Therefore, it should withdraw and let KFOR and the Kosovo police (KPS) safeguard the security," said Redzepi, according to Albanian language media reports in Priština. The EU mission in Kosovo declared northern Kosovska Mitrovica and northern Kosovo a "dangerous zone for its members". The reasons for this decision are likely incidents that happened several days ago, when on two separate occasions four EULEX and one OSCE members were beaten up, reported Tanjug. The five officers were attacked in northern Kosovska Mitrovica by unidentified individuals. Following the incidents, EULEX issued new rules for the movement of its members north to the Ibar River, and at Jarinje and Brnjak checkpoints between Kosovo and central Serbia. Kosovo's north is predominantly populated by Serbs, who reject the authority of the government in Priština and the ethnic Albanian unilateral declaration of independence made three years ago.