[영문] Serbian president calls for UN, EU intervention to protect Kosovo Serbs

Serbian President Boris Tadic.

Serbian President Boris Tadic on Monday sent a letter to the United Nations and the current European Union's rotating presidency holder, the Czech Republic, asking for their intervention to protect Kosovo Serbs following increasing incidents.

Tadic said that the NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR), the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the EU rule of law mission (EULEX) had failed to stop attacks on ethnic Serbs in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica, according to a statement released by Tadic's office.

"There was no adequate reactions from the peacekeeping forces, which are obligated to protect the Serbs, who are most endangered in Kosovo and Metohija," he said.

Tadic said the "real intention of the Kosovo government and Albanian extremists to use violence is to provoke conflicts with the Serbs and stop the implementation of the six-point agreement reached between Serbia and the UN."

The Kosovo Albanian leadership in Pristina rejected the agreement, which Belgrade cited as its condition for approving EULEX's deployment in the province in December.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in February 2008. However, Serbia has vowed it would never agree to Kosovo's independence.

The latest wave of violence in Kosovo started last week when two Albanians stabbed a Serb teenage boy, which provoked local Serb protestors to set fire to a number of Albanian-owned shops and damage several cars. The violence continued on Sunday night, when two Serbs were attacked near Mitrovica.

On Friday evening, six firemen and two employees of a local TV station were injured in two separate incidents.

"Such incidents can lead to a worsening of the overall security situation in Kosovo and I am therefore asking the international community for an immediate upgrading of the security level in order to prevent attacks against Kosovo Serbs," Tadic said in his letter.

Edit by Fang Yang (XFN)