EU pulls out of divided Kosovo city
The European Union has withdrawn staff from a divided Kosovo city following violent protests by the Serb minority, an EU envoy said Saturday as Russia warned Kosovo's independence could increase terrorism.
The EU staff in the northern city of Mitrovica have been preparing a 2,000 strong EU police-judicial mission in Kosovo after its declaration of independence, which has been rejected by the Serbian government and Kosovo Serbs.
"We have temporarily brought back our personnel, but we will maintain our office in the north," EU envoy Peter Feith told reporters in the southern Kosovo town of Prizren.
He did not give details on the numbers involved but added: "We hope that conditions will soon allow us to resume our activities" in northern Kosovo.
Mitrovica, where there are 80,000 Albanians in the south of the city and 20,000 Serbs in the north, has become a symbol of Kosovo's ethnic tensions.
The Serbian government and the Serb minority that remains in Kosovo oppose the EU mission. Just before the independence proclamation, an explosion went off near the building housing the EU preparatory team in Mitrovica. Kosovo Serbs in the north have been protesting ever since Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia Sunday.
Russia has also strongly opposed Kosovo's independence and blamed the West's support to the breakaway province for violent unrest in Belgrade this week targeting the US and European embassies.
A top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said that Kosovo's move would strengthen terrorist forces.
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