KOSOVO:The European Union's powerful new special representative to Kosovo took up his post yesterday as western and Serb officials traded barbs over who was to blame for the fiery destruction of two border posts.
Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith said that his 2,000-strong political and police mission to oversee the first years of Kosovo's independence would ensure safety for all the new state's people and would not be cowed by threats from local Serb leaders.
"We invite all of Kosovo's citizens, especially Serbs, to return to and share lives as soon as possible . . . Kosovo is one, internationally supported and with a vision for the future," said Mr Feith, who will be able to sack Kosovan officials and overturn legislation.
"It is the intention of the EU to deploy its presences . . . all over Kosovo. All over the territory of Kosovo includes the north," he added, referring to Serb-dominated regions enraged by Sunday's declaration of independence. "It should be clear to the Serb community that we are not a threat to their way of life."
A number of hand grenades have been thrown at EU and United Nations buildings in the Serb half of the town of Mitrovica and a mob of more than 1,000 Serbs razed two border checkpoints between Kosovo and Serbia on Tuesday. Nato peacekeepers and UN police reopened the crossings last night.
Xavier de Marnhac, the French general who who leads Nato's 17,000-strong force in Kosovo, condemned Serb officials in Kosovo for instigating the attack.
"I just want everybody to be fully aware of my determination to maintain and restore a safe and secure environment wherever in Kosovo," he said. "Some local leaders took a huge responsibility yesterday. The leaders should think deeply of their responsibility when they trigger this type of demonstration."
Alongside him at a press conference in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, the head of the local UN administration, Joachim Ruecker, denounced comments from Serbia's minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, that razing the border posts was "perhaps not pretty, but legitimate".
"The Serbian government is bound by their commitment to refrain from all acts that could be seen as encouraging violence, and this was really violence," said Mr Ruecker, whose mission will be replaced over a four-month transition period by Mr Feith's team.
Serbia's deputy defence minister, Dusan Spasojevic, insisted that Belgrade did not plan to take military action in Kosovo, but he warned of provocations from ethnic Albanian paramilitaries.
"We don't see it as a military problem. It's a political problem for the time being," he said, adding that Belgrade would "do nothing against the forces that protect civilians and act for stability" in Kosovo. "What we fear most are armed Albanian groups operating within the region," he said. "But we fully trust . . . [ Nato] troops can maintain stability and protect civilians."
Serb officials seem intent on creating a de facto partition in Kosovo, however, with even relatively moderate ministers saying Belgrade will never recognise the sovereignty of a region they consider the historical and religious heartland of their nation.
"We must do everything to establish economic sovereignty in the parts of Kosovo where Serbs live," declared liberal Serbian economy minister Mladjan Dinkic, who visited northern Kosovo yesterday. He pledged that Belgrade would tolerate customs points between Serbia and the "fake state" on its border.
In Mitrovica, a crowd of about 3,000 Serbs marched to the bridge separating them from the Albanian side of the town, waving Serb flags and chanting "we won't give up Kosovo". As on previous days, they were monitored by a Nato helicopter and were met at the bridge by UN police. They made no attempt to cross and dispersed peacefully.
Serbia has begun withdrawing ambassadors from countries which have recognised Kosovo's sovereignty, including the US, Britain, France and Germany. A big protest march is planned in Belgrade today and could attract hundreds of thousands of people.
Russia has backed Serbia in opposing Kosovo's independence. Its envoy to the EU, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, was quoted yesterday as saying: "Only a blind person would not see the destructive consequences for Europe from the game being played out over Kosovo."