UN applauds postponement of new measures on Kosovo-Serbia border following tensions

The United Nations has assured that it is “following very closely” the situation on the border between Kosovo and Serbia and has applauded the postponement of two measures that were to come into force this Monday, August 1, affecting people entering the country from Serbia.

“I can say that we are following developments in Kosovo very closely and that we welcome the postponement of the implementation of the decisions that led to increased tensions on the ground,” said UN Secretary General’s spokesman Stephane DUjarric.

Thus, he said that “the special representative of the secretary general and head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Caroline Ziadeh, called yesterday (Sunday) on all parties to address the problems in good faith through dialogue facilitated by the EUropean Union to strengthen stability and security for all.”

Tensions on the border escalated on Sunday when Serbs erected barricades on the border in protest against the Kosovar government’s decisions on the implementation of measures to veto the use of Serbian identity cards and license plates on its territory and which was to come into force on Monday. Finally Kosovo has extended the application of the law by one month.

The director of the Serbian Government Office for Relations with Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, on Monday accused the Kosovar authorities of having fomented “a very serious crisis” and acknowledged that during the day on Sunday they were “on the verge of serious conflicts”.