Until every family has its own nation

Church, rail workers join Serb boycott in Kosovo
Mon Mar 3, 2008 7:47am EST
By Matt Robinson

PRISTINA, March 3 (Reuters) - The influential Orthodox Church and
railway workers on Monday joined a widening Serb boycott of Kosovo
following its declaration of independence from Serbia last month.

The Church instructed all priests in the Albanian majority territory
to end all contact with the capital Pristina, the European Union
mission taking over supervision of Kosovo and representatives of
countries that have recognised its secession on Feb 17.

The Church should "not have contact or hold any kind of discussion
with representatives of these institutions or countries, nor receive
them or respond to their invitations," Bishop Artemije wrote, state
news agency Tanjug reported.

Backed by Russia, Serbia rejects Kosovo's secession and is instructing
the new country's 120,000 remaining Serbs to do the same, worsening
the ethnic divide and raising fears Kosovo is heading for de facto
partition.

Over 200 Serb police officers have been suspended and handed in their
weapons, badges and radios after refusing to take orders from the
Kosovo Police Service command in Pristina and demanding they report
only to the United Nations police.

Border posts in the Serb-dominated north have been attacked,
preventing the collection of customs taxes, and Serbs are bidding to
take control of the main U.N. court in the north by preventing its
Albanian staff from travelling to work.

The EU's Kosovo envoy, Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith, accused Serbia on
Friday of trying to sever ties between the 90-percent Albanian
majority and minority Serbs, a move he said was "coming very close" to
a bid for partition.



RAIL WORKERS

Early on Monday, the train travelling from Kosovo Polje in central
Kosovo to Lesak in the far north was stopped at the northern Zvecan
station as soon as it had crossed into Serb-dominated territory.

Around 50 Serb workers in the Kosovo Railway said they had "separated"
from the Pristina headquarters.

"We have decided, as the northern department, to separate from the
Kosovo Railway in Pristina because, for us, Zvecan is still Serbia,
and will remain Serbia," said railway worker Ivan Konstadinov.

Branislav Ristivojevic, head of the state Serbian Railway company and
an adviser to Serb Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, said the company
would "take over responsibility" for the railway infrastructure north
of Zvecan.

Serbia lost control over its then southern province in 1999, after
NATO bombed to halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanian
civilians by Serb forces in a two-year war against separatist guerrillas.

Serbia cherishes Kosovo as the cradle of the nation, where Serb
history and myth dates back 1,000 years and old monasteries dot the land.

The European Union is taking over policing and supervision of the new
country, but faces a challenge to impose its rule in Serb areas,
notably the north where Serbs dominate.

Serbia is promising to rule parts of Kosovo where "loyal citizens"
continue to look to Belgrade for government. (Additional reporting by
Branislav Krstic; editing by Keith Weir)