- Title: Kosovo to review ties with Serbia after ex-PM arrest - foreign minister
- Date: 6th January 2017
- Summary: PRISTINA, KOSOVO (JANUARY 6, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY (KLA) WAR VETERANS AND SUPPORTERS GATHERED AT INDEPENDENCE OBELISK PROTESTER HOLDING BANNER IN FRENCH READING "HARADINAJ IS A LIBERATOR" PROTESTERS WAR VETERAN IN UNIFORM PROTESTER HOLDING BANNER IN FRENCH READING "DO NOT OFFEND KOSOVO" PROTESTER HOLDING BANNER WITH PICTURE OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER RAMUSH HARADINAJ PROTESTER HOLDING BANNER READING "VUCIC=MILOSEVIC" PROTESTERS LISTENING TO SPEECH/ MAN HOLDING BANNER READING "HARADINAJ IS KOSOVO" KOSOVO FOREIGN MINISTER ENVER HOXHAJ ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian), KOSOVO FOREIGN MINISTER, ENVER HOXHAJ, SAYING: "Yesterday we took reciprocal measures with (Serbian President Tomislav) Nikolic (and) we will do that again in the future." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian), KOSOVO FOREIGN MINISTER, ENVER HOXHAJ, SAYING: "There has to be a review of our relations with Serbia and a review of the dialogue." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian), KOSOVO FOREIGN MINISTER, ENVER HOXHAJ, SAYING: "Serbia is a country that still has a hostile attitude towards our new country, it has a hostile policy towards the citizens of Kosovo and (late Serbian President Slobodan) Milosevic's way of thinking is still present in Belgrade. We will not surrender in any situation under any circumstance." PHOTOGRAPHER VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING TOWARDS FRENCH EMBASSY PROTESTERS ARRIVING AT EMBASSY FRENCH AND EUROPEAN UNION FLAGS FLYING VARIOUS OF KOSOVO POLICE GUARDING EMBASSY VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS PASSING BY EMBASSY BARBED WIRE / FRENCH FLAG
- Embargoed: 21st January 2017 16:46
- Keywords: veterans Ramusch Haradinaj France arrest Serbia
- Location: PRISTINA, KOSOVO
- City: PRISTINA, KOSOVO
- Country: Kosovo
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA0015XXZJ21
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Kosovo Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj said on Friday (January 6) his country had retaliated against neighbouring Serbia and would do so again after an ex-prime minister was arrested in France on a warrant issued by Belgrade.
The arrest on Wednesday (January 4) of Ramush Haradinaj, a guerrilla commander in the 1998-99 war against Serbian rule who served briefly as prime minister in 2004 and 2005, has heightened tensions between the Balkan neighbours.
Kosovo seceded from Serbia in 2008. Both states want to join the European Union but Brussels says they must normalise relations before their applications can go ahead. Kosovo opposition parties have called for their EU-mediated dialogue to be halted.
"Yesterday we took reciprocal measures with (Serbian President Tomislav) Nikolic (and) we will do that again in the future," Hoxhaj told reporters in Pristina. "There has to be a revision of our relations with Serbia and a revision of the dialogue."
Also on Friday, ethnic Albanian protesters in the western town of Gjakova - mostly families of those killed by Serb forces during the 1998-99 conflict - stoned a bus that was carrying ethnic Serb pilgrims marking Orthodox Christmas Eve.
Hoxhaj said Serbia had issued more international arrest warrants for Kosovo citizens, limiting their travel abroad.
Serbia does not recognise Kosovo as an independent state and together with its ally Russia is blocking Pristina's efforts to join the United Nations and other international institutions.
Haradinaj, who appeared before a French court on Thursday (January 5), will remain in prison until Serbia makes a formal extradition order, which will then be examined by the court.
Serbia has charged Haradinaj with murdering Serbs in the late 1990s war. That conflict ended after NATO bombed Serbia for 11 weeks to compel it to withdraw forces that had killed some 10,000 members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority in counter-insurgency operations.
Thousands of Haradinaj's party supporters gathered in front of the French embassy in Pristina on Friday holding US and Albanian flags under heavy snow. "Do not offend Kosovo," one banner read. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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