Kosovo Calm But Tense Ahead Of Serb Decision On Roadblocks

A Slovenian KFOR soldier stands on a road in front of barricades in the village of Rudare, in northern Kosovo, on August 5.

Northern Kosovo was calm but tense as ethnic Serbs maintained their roadblocks despite a NATO-brokered agreement from last week between Belgrade and Pristina aimed at defusing their crisis.

Local Serb leaders are due to decide by August 9 whether they will endorse the deal or continue to blockade roads in their northern Kosovo enclave.

The dispute stems from a trade war that Serbia and Kosovo failed to resolve in talks facilitated by the European Union since March.

The crisis escalated in late July when Pristina ordered special police to seize two border crossings into Serbia from northern Kosovo.

Local Serbs responded by setting up the roadblocks and torching some border checkpoints.

Pristina was trying to impose a ban on imports from Serbia in reaction to Belgrade's refusal to allow goods into Serbia from Kosovo.

compiled from agency reports