Eurasia Press & News
Kosovo police on Monday prevented Belgrade mayor Dragan Djilas from entering Kosovo’s territory at the customs checkpoint at Konculj.
Djilas, who is an official of the Democratic Party headed by Serbian President Boris Tadic, planned to visit the Serb population in eastern Kosovo together with his associates, but was denied entry because, as the Kosovo police explained, “he failed to respect the procedure for getting the permit to enter and stay in Kosovo.”
“This act by the so-called Kosovo authorities does not surprise me, but it is a shame that the international community approves this kind of moves,” Djilas told the press at Konculj.
Until 9 December, 2008, permits for Serbian officials entering Kosovo was issued by the office of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK. However, since then, this mission is passing requests onto the Kosovo police.
Zenun Pajaziti, Kosovo’s Interior Minister on Monday warned Serbian officials that they have to respect the legal procedure if they want to enter Kosovo.
“For permits, they must address authorised institutions of the Republic of Kosovo,” he told the Kosovo media.
Boris Tadic on Monday in New York before the UN Security Council said, “it is of extreme importance for the stability” that institutions of international community allow movement of democratically elected officials of the Republic of Serbia in the whole territory of Kosovo.
Lamberto Zannier, head of UNMIK, assessed that the problem of banning Serbian officials from entering Kosovo could become a source of tension in the region.
This is the third case of banning Serbian officials from entering Kosovo in the last month. Before Djilas, one official from the Belgrade government and a group of Serbian Parliament Members of Parliament could not enter Kosovo.
The Konculj customs checkpoint is located in the municipality of Bujanovac, around 380 kilometres south of Belgrade.
The region of southern Serbia was in 2000 and 2001 the location of armed conflict between Albanian insurgents and Serbian security forces. The conflict ended through the mediation of NATO and the international community.
