Kosovo Serbs protest new customs regulation

10/06/2009

EULEX and KFOR continue to monitor the protest situation in northern Kosovo, where local Serbs gathered in the streets to rally against a new customs order.

By Besa Beqiri for Southeast European Times in Pristina -- 10/06/09

Hundreds of Kosovo Serbs turned out to oppose a new customs rule. [Ilija Djordjevic]

Several hundred Serbs showed their opposition to a new customs ordinance by protesting at the northern border Tuesday (June 9th). According to local media, the Serbs asked EULEX to suspend customs duties at the Bernjak and Jarinje crossings near the Serbian border.

Serbs say businesses in the region are willing to pay taxes, but not to the "unrecognised state of Kosovo", local media reported.

The protests blocked traffic in Bernjak and Jarinje for about 30 minutes. The groups say they will continue to protest until their demands are met.

Kosovo Police told Southeast European Times that the protests were under control, and that EULEX and KFOR were observing and monitoring the situation.

"[The Serbs] demanded that an agreement be reached as soon as possible between international officials and the competent Serbian ministries over a means of tax collection that was in keeping with UN Security Council resolution 1244," said Belgrade-based internet, TV and radio station B92.

Belgrade daily Politika reported that the government has not reached any additional agreements with EULEX concerning the new collection at the two border crossings in the north.

The EULEX position, according to Politika, is that Belgrade agreed to a report by the UN secretary-general in November of last year, which said the checkpoints in question were to be "controlled by international customs personnel".

EULEX has no plan to generate revenue from the checkpoints, according to Christophe Lamfalussy, EULEX spokesperson. However, passers-by are required to register with customs and have a photocopy taken of their driver's license.

"EULEX has no legal authority to collect taxes in the north. This is a political issue, it is not in the EULEX mandate, which is a technical mission," said Lamfalussy.

"We want to return all custom operations to those two border points as it was before February 2008," he noted, adding that switching over power will only be possible with the gradual development of good faith between the two communities.

Serbian Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic, who visited northern Kosovo on Monday, appealed to the Serbs there "to be peaceful and dignified" at the protest. However, Bogdanovic reiterated Belgrade's position, saying"unilateral moves by EULEX are not acceptable."

In a related development, local media reported Tuesday that charges are being filed against two Serb leaders in the north, Milan Ivanovic and Marko Jaksic, over their alleged call to burn the border crossings in Bernjak and Jarinje, after Kosovo proclaimed its independence last year. Kosovo daily Kosova Sot reported that the cases will be turned over to EULEX prosecutors.

"We have collected information to see if [Jaksic and Ivanovic] have made calls to burn the gates. Some notes have been handed over to EULEX," said Besim Hoti, Kosovo Police spokesman in Mitrovica.