Serbian lawmakers meet over Kosovo

The Serbian parliament met on Saturday in special session over the unrest in mostly ethnic Serb northern Kosovo after Pristina slapped a trade embargo on Serbia. At the extraordinary session, called by the Serbian government, the lawmakers are expected to pass a declaration concluding that the authorities in Pristina have "tried through force to change a reality on the ground." According to a draft of the text, the parliament will ask the Serbian government to "defend the interest of the republic of Serbia and people in Kosovo... as a priority until a compromise solution is found" to solve the situation, which should be done "through a dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina." The crisis started Monday after Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci's ethnic Albanian government ordered police to seize control of two border crossings in northern Kosovo to enforce a ban on imports from Serbia. According to Pristina the ban imposed two weeks ago was not respected by ethnic Serb members of Kosovo's border police. The move provoked an angry response, with one Kosovar police officer killed and four others hurt in clashes with Serbs. The situation in northern Kosovo, dominated by ethnic Serbs, was calm but tense Saturday afternoon, Serbian media reported from the flashpoint town of Mitrovica and two border crossings with Serbia, closed for traffic by NATO-led KFOR troops. Angry Kosovo Serbs have blocked the roads leading to the crossings to prevent KFOR from reaching them, Belgrade-based Beta news agency reported. If the declaration is passed in the parliament, as expected, the Serbian government will be obliged to "demand the international missions (in Kosovo)... not to allow unilateral activities of Pristina authorities which jeopardise peace, stability and possibility for a compromise solution." Belgrade and Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority have never recognised the ethnic Albanian government in Pristina, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008. Belgrade banned imports from Kosovo immediately after the declaration and Pristina's decision to retaliate last week caught many by surprise. More than 90 percent of Kosovo's imported food comes from Serbia, one of its main suppliers with goods totalling 260 million euros ($370 million) a year.