Northern Kosovo Serbs request protection from UN

Serbs, who have been at barricades near the village of Rudare since July 25, are monitoring the roads leading toward the Brnjak and Jarinje crossings.

It is peaceful, but uncertainty and tension are the words that best describe the situation in north Kosovo.

Citizens from Kosovska Mitrovica and Zvečan are taking four-hour shifts at the Rudare barricade. It is still unknown when the road leading from Zvečan to Kosovska Mitrovica will be unblocked.

Concerned about the fate of this part of the province, four north Kosovo municipal presidents sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday, requesting protection from Kosovo officials’ announcement that they will integrate north Kosovo by force and that they will bring Albanian customs officers and policemen to the administrative crossings once KFOR troops have withdrawn.