BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbia’s president on Thursday accused Kosovo of finishing up “silent ethnic cleansing” of Serbs and stated his nation will search a gathering with NATO’s chief and an pressing session of United Nations Security Council to demand their safety.
“Things are out of control,” Aleksandar Vucic stated. “Serbian people have been cornered.”
Vucic stated he’ll urge the assembly with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg subsequent week earlier than requesting the U.N. Security Council session. Serbia may start unspecified tough “activities” if the 2 initiatives produce no outcomes, he warned.
“We have no right to allow further pogrom, persecution or ethnic cleansing of our people,” Vucic stated.
Serbia briefly heightened the fight readiness of its armed forces and threatened a army intervention after tensions lately soared in Kosovo between the ethnic Albanian-dominated authorities and the Serb minority residing in northern Kosovo.
Vucic cited latest arrests of Serbs in Kosovo to again his declare of ethnic cleaning by Kosovo authorities, which he described as “planned” and “well-organized.”
The newest flare-up in Kosovo got here after police-backed ethnic Albanian mayors took workplace following native elections in April that have been boycotted by Serbs who’re demanding implementation of an EU-mediated settlement for self-rule.
Violence then erupted in May between the Serbs and Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers, injuring dozens. It raised fears of a battle just like the one in 1998-99, when greater than 10,000 individuals died, principally ethnic Albanians.
Vucic spoke a day after he met with European Union envoy Miroslav Lajcak, who visited the 2 international locations in an effort to defuse the scenario and push ahead an EU-mediated dialogue geared toward resolving the dispute.
Also this week, the prime ministers of the Netherlands and Luxembourg traveled to Serbia and Kosovo, urging the easing of tensions. The West fears additional instability in Europe because the conflict continues in Ukraine.
The EU has requested that new elections be held and that tensions relax with the intention to push ahead a dialogue on normalization of ties that’s the key situation for the 2 international locations to advance of their efforts to hitch the 27-nation bloc.
Just 4 months in the past, Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti gave their tacit approval to an EU-sponsored plan to finish animosity and assist enhance their ties in the long run, however tensions have persevered as the 2 sides accused one another of fueling them.
Vucic described the actions of Kosovo’s authorities as “what I would call silent ethnic cleansing, where Serbs have no rights to live unless they are loyal to the regime of Kurti.”
“Serbia has done all it was asked to do, but there is no de-escalation because (Kosovo’s government) does not want it,” Vucic stated. “Serbia is not preparing for war but it is ready to protect the lives of our people.”
Any intervention by Serbia in Kosovo may result in a conflict with NATO-led peacekeepers there. NATO deployed peacekeepers in Kosovo after the Western army alliance bombed Serbia in 1999 to cease its brutal crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians.
Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008, which was been acknowledged by the United States and most EU nations however not by Serbia, Russia and China.
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