According to the Kosovo police, the situation in the north is normalized. Yet politicians have conflicting opinions.
The deputy regional commander of the Kosovo police Besim Hoti stressed that the current situation in the north is stable regardless of the incidents that have occurred in recent days. He said that police presence increased.
Plans to remove the so-called ‘Peace Park’ barricade on the main River Iber bridge on 15 October have been postponed indefinitely, said sources from the Mitrovica North municipality. The postponement, according to the source, came as a result of the current political situation in Kosovo. “Recent events across Kosovo, including protests against the Community are the reasons why the removal of the park has been delayed,” the source added.
The news site reports that in addition to dividing the city of Mitrovica into southern and northern municipalities, the city could now face another negative development. According to the Brussels Agreement, the Mitrovica South and Mitrovica North must define their cadastral boundaries by October 10. Serbs however want to go beyond the Ahtisaari Package and redesign the boundaries. According to reliable sources, Serbs want to shift the boundary to the Iber River, in which case the villages of Suhodoll, Gushavc and Viranc would belong to the Mitrovica North municipality.
Northern Mitrovica Mayor Goran Rakic denied the allegations about ethnic cleansing in this part of the city, and underscored that ethnic cleansing has been completed a long time ago in southern Mitrovica, where not a single Serb now lives.
Northern Mitrovica is the only truly multi-ethnic environment in Kosovo, Rakic said to Radio Kontakt Plus and called on Southern Mitrovica Mayor Agim Bahtiri to refrain from making flammable statements that can destabilise the situation in the area.
The Head of European Union Office in Kosovo Samuel Zbogar met today Mitrovica Mayor Agim Bahtiri but none of them commented on what the meeting was about. Unofficially, the two officials are reported to have discussed details for the removal of the so-called Peace Park on River Iber bridge which is scheduled to take place on 15 October.
Removing the Peace Park from the main Mitrovica Bridge now depends exclusively on the establishment of the Community/Association of Serbian Municipalities, as reported yesterday by Zeri, saying that this was the position of Serbian officials, as well as that the question of solving the Peace Park currently was blocked. The newspapers also reported that it will be a part of a package of agreements on four points.
Agim Bahtiri, the Mayor of Mitrovica municipality and member of the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) told Gazeta Express that he is talking with senior members of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) but that he has yet to decide if he will join this party. The AKR is undergoing internal elections and it is not known if Behxhet Pacolli will remain party leader of if he will be replaced by Mimoza Kusari-Lila, current deputy party leader and Mayor of Gjakova municipality.
Agim Bahtiri, the Mayor of Mitrovica municipality, has reacted today to the decision of the European Union Office in Pristina to allocate a €8.5 million grant for northern Serb-majority municipalities. “I have nothing against the decision of the EU Office to allocate grants for municipalities administered by Serbs in the northern part of the Republic of Kosovo. I support this decision and I think that the development grants will contribute to the consolidation and full integration of Serbs in the system of the Republic of Kosovo.
The Office of the Prime Minister of Kosovo, namely its public information office, issued a press release today about the result of talks between delegations from Pristina and Belgrade in Brussels on the issue of barricades in Mitrovica. During the meeting, EU representative Fernando Gentilini confirmed the position of the EU that barricades must be removed, freedom of movement must be secured for all and that Kosovo laws and agreements need to be fully implemented.
Mitrovica mayor Agim Bahtiri, in an interview for Indeksonline, said he had promised that barricades in Mitrovica would be removed and that this was done for the good of all communities and for their freedom of movement.