Barricades come down in Serbia-Kosovo border row

With talks to advance Serbia’s European Union membership bid happening soon, minority Serbs in Kosovo have begun taking down barricades at the northern border.

The dispute has been rumbling on since July when Kosovo’s government tried to seize control of two crossings in a mainly Serb region of the state.

EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels this week and Serbia is hoping to improve its chance of joining the bloc by resolving the border issue.

Slavisa Ristic, Serbian Mayor of Zubin Potok, a town close to the border, said both sides would decrease their security at the crossings, but not all the barricades would come down as the matter has not been fully settled yet. In addition, not all the roadblocks have been cleared.

Serbia and Kosovo agreed to joint management of the border crossings starting later this month at a meeting in Brussels last week. However, it remains to be seen whether the arrangement will be successful after Serb leaders in northern Kosovo called the agreement a betrayal.

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