Senior UN Official Condemns Latest Violence in Northern Koso

Senior UN Official Condemns Latest Violence in Northern Kosovo

New York, Sep 7 2012 12:10PM The United Nations deputy envoy for Kosovo today deplored the latest outbreak of violence there following a shooting incident that left one Kosovo Police officer wounded.

In a news statement released by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative there, Robert Sorenson, strongly condemned the shooting in which European Union and Kosovo Police vehicles were targeted.

“This act of violence against those who are helping to strengthen the rule of law and provide security for all communities in Kosovo is reprehensible and should be condemned by all,” said Mr. Sorenson.

“I call upon anyone who has information about this incident immediately to contact the police so that the perpetrators can be caught and brought to justice,” he added.

The incident, which also injured a local police officer, took place near the city of Zubin Potok, located in northern Kosovo, which has been a flashpoint amid continuing tensions between the area’s Kosovo Albanian and Kosovo Serbian communities.

Established in 1999, UNMIK is mandated to help ensure conditions for a peaceful and normal life for all inhabitants of Kosovo and advance regional stability in the western Balkans. It began its operations when North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces drove out Yugoslav troops amid bloody ethnic fighting between Serbs and Albanians, but it gave up its administrative role in 2008 when Kosovo Albanians declared independence.

Serbia rejects Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

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