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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Violence Erupts in Split Kosovo

New country 'inches away from partition'

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(Newser) – Hundreds of Serbs torched government and UN buildings in Kosovo today in the worst violence since the country declared independence on Sunday, raising fears of an ethnic split, Reuters reports. Seemingly well-organized gangs rampaged near the border, driving off peacekeepers who tried to intervene. No injuries were reported. “We are inches from partition,” said one Western official.

Ethnic Serbs who dominate the new country’s northwest corner staunchly oppose Kosovo’s split from Serbia. If the violence persists, Kosovo may be forced to close the bridges to the region, dividing Kosovar Serbs and Albanians. But one UN official said he doubts it will come to that. “We have had the major earthquake” of independence, he said. “These are just the aftershocks.”

A United Nation checkpoint burns as a Kosovo Serb waves a national flag in the village of Jarinje, on the Serbia-Kosovo border, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. Serbs torched UN checkpoints between Serbia and Kosovo to protest Kosovo's declaration of independence and international recognition of the new nation. They set fire...
A United Nation checkpoint burns as a Kosovo Serb waves a national flag in the village of Jarinje, on the Serbia-Kosovo border, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. Serbs torched UN checkpoints between Serbia and...   (Associated Press)
United Nations police vehicles burn on the United Nations checkpoint in the village of Jarinje, on the Serbia-Kosovo border, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. Serbs torched UN checkpoints between Serbia and Kosovo to protest Kosovo's declaration of independence and international recognition of the new nation. NATO peacekeepers and Kosovo police did...
United Nations police vehicles burn on the United Nations checkpoint in the village of Jarinje, on the Serbia-Kosovo border, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. Serbs torched UN checkpoints between Serbia and Kosovo...   (Associated Press)
Kosovo Serbs destroy and burn UN vehicles on the checkpoint in Jarinje, on the Serbia-Kosovo border, Tuesday, Feb.19, 2008. Serbs torched UN checkpoints between Serbia and Kosovo to protest Kosovo's declaration of independence and international recognition of the new nation. They set fire to two border crossings that are...
Kosovo Serbs destroy and burn UN vehicles on the checkpoint in Jarinje, on the Serbia-Kosovo border, Tuesday, Feb.19, 2008. Serbs torched UN checkpoints between Serbia and Kosovo to protest Kosovo's declaration...   (Associated Press)
UN special police forces check the burning border station connecting Serbia with the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica, near Brnjak, Kosovo, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. The predominantly ethnic Albanian leadership of Kosovo, Serbia's medieval heartland, proclaimed independence from Serbia Sunday with Western backing. Serbia lost control over Kosovo, whose...
UN special police forces check the burning border station connecting Serbia with the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica, near Brnjak, Kosovo, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008. The predominantly ethnic...   (Associated Press)
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