The United Nations on Monday expressed concern over the "atmosphere of mutual suspicion" in Kosovo, calling for "critical" de-escalatory measures between it and Serbia.
Tensions between Pristina and Belgrade have been heightened since a police officer was killed last month in an ambush in Kosovo's restive north, allegedly by a paramilitary unit made up of Kosovo Serbs.
Animosity between Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since a war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s that drew NATO intervention against Belgrade. Kosovo—which counts 120,000 Serbs among its 1.8 million people—declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, in a move Belgrade has never recognized.
Protests flared earlier this year among Kosovo's ethnic Serbs in April after the authorities installed Pristina-allied mayors following widely boycotted local elections in four predominantly Serb northern municipalities.
"De-escalatory measures are critical to reduce tensions," said Caroline Ziadeh, head of the UN's mission Kosovo, adding she hoped that recent EU and US-organized meetings with officials in Pristina and Belgrade would help "place the dialogue back on a forward path."
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