Cuerpo : The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Kosovo Caroline Ziade, exhorts all sides to avoid an escalation and to take urgent measures to reestablish peace, after the Kosovar police repressed with tear gas a protest of the Serbian minority, stated a press release of the UN mission.

The UN official deemed it necessary to seek a solution within the dialogue framework between Belgrade and Pristina, sponsored by the European Union (EU), the international mission recorded.

Meanwhile, the EU dismissed the agreements signed to end the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) bombing of the former Federation of Yugoslavia in 1999, which recognized Serbian jurisdiction over its Kosovo province.

In the recent elections in the municipalities of northern Kosovo, just over three percent of those registered participated, amid a boycott by the Serb minority, which is now unaware of the results.

In the municipalities in the north of Kosovo, bordering Serbia, sirens were heard and there were mobile phone communication failures, while in Belgrade, President Alexander Vucic ordered the general mobilization of the army.

Belgrade and Pristina have on at least two previous similar tense situations in little more than a year with mobilization of troops and law enforcement officers on both sides.

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