MITROVICA: Kosovo Alb­a­nians on Sunday blocked roads and burned tyres on a planned route by Serbia’s president in the former Serbian province, further fuelling tensions between the two Balkan foes.

During his two-day trip, President Aleksandar Vucic planned to visit a Serb-populated village in central Kosovo on Sunday, but roads leading to the region were blocked by wooden logs, trucks and heavy machinery, preventing him from reaching his destination.

Vucic and his entourage were stopped by Kosovo po­lice on the road to the Drenica region and were told they couldn’t continue for sec­urity reasons. Drenica was in the scene of the first bloody crackdown by Serb troops against ethnic Alba­nian separatists in 1998.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci said that opposition by Kosovo’s citizens to the visit by Vucic is understandable, but he urged restraint for the sake of peace and reconciliation after the 1998-99 war.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2018