MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) – Kosovo’s president Vjosa Osmani has warned that opening a bridge to traffic in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica without NATO’s coordination risks a conflict between police and U.S. troops.
The government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti is making final preparations to open the Mitrovica bridge which has been mostly closed to traffic since the Kosovo war ended in 1999, although the bridge is open for pedestrians.
The bridge has been the site of some of the worst clashes between ethnic Albanians and Serbs, who make up the majority in the northern Kosovo. Its opening would be a symbolic move because three other bridges already connect the town across a river.
“Is it in Kosovo’s interest for us to see a conflict between our police and U.S. soldiers? I don’t believe there is any Albanian that agrees with such a thing,” Osmani told reporters on Thursday.
Independence for ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo came in 2008, almost a decade after a guerrilla uprising against Serbian rule. Tensions persist mainly in the north where the Serb minority refuses to recognise Kosovo’s statehood and still see Belgrade as their capital.
NATO still has more than 4,500 troops, including U.S. forces, in Kosovo to maintain the fragile peace.
Osmani’s comments came after the United States, the European Union and NATO warned Kurti that the plan may trigger ethnic violence, forcing NATO to intervene to maintain peace.
“We have no reason to have conflicts with our allies. They have saved us … and they are here together with us to protect our sovereignty,” Osmani said.
Local media had reported that the opening could take place on Thursday but that had not happened by the afternoon and workers were still painting the bridge.
The NATO mission in Kosovo said this week that it would “not hesitate to act in response to any relevant security developments.”
A senior NATO official told Reuters that one option was to blockade the bridge with soldiers and armored vehicles if the government attempted to open it.
(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Ros Russell)
