(ANSA-AFP) - BELGRADO, 26 DIC - Serbia's president sent his
army chief to the border with Kosovo as ties between the
squabbling neighbours further degenerated after recent
roadblocks set up in Kosovo's Serb-majority north. Kosovo
declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade refuses
to recognise the move and encourages the remaining 120,000 Serbs
to defy Pristina's authority. Serbian army chief General Milan
Mojsilovic said on Sunday that "the situation there is
complicated and complex" and added that "the presence of the
Serbian army along the administrative line," or border, was
needed. Hundreds of ethnic Serbs, outraged over the arrest of an
ex-police officer, set up roadblocks on December 10 in
Serb-majority northern Kosovo, paralysing traffic through two
border crossings. The general said late Sunday he was on his way
to Raska, a town about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border
after meeting with President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade. "The
tasks the Serbian army has got ... are precise, clear, and will
be fully implemented," Mojsilovic said. Shortly before
Mojsilovic left for the border, several Serbian pro-government
media outlets aired a video in which gunfire can be heard. The
outlets said it was "fighting" that occurred on Sunday evening
when Kosovar forces tried to dismantle a barricade. This was
rejected by Kosovar police in a Facebook post. The NATO-led
peacekeeping force KFOR said it was investigating an "indirect
fire incident on 25 December in the close proximity of a NATO
KFOR patrol" that involved an unknown number of armed people.
"There were no injuries or material damages, and we are working
to establish all the facts," KFOR said in a statement. The
latest bout of tensions came after Kosovo scheduled local
elections in Serb-majority municipalities which the main Serb
political party said it would boycott. An ex-policeman suspected
of involvement in attacks against ethnic Albanian police
officers was arrested, outraging ethnic Serbs who erected the
barricades. In November, hundreds of ethnic Serb police officers
embedded in the Kosovo police -- as well as judges, prosecutors
and other officials -- walked off the job to protest against a
controversial decision to ban Serbs living in Kosovo from using
Belgrade-issued licence plates. This was then scrapped by
Pristina but the mass walkouts created a security vacuum in
Kosovo. Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said last week the
situation with Kosovo was "on the brink of armed conflict".
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