The plans to open a bridge in the Kosovo city of Mitrovica for vehicle access had been met with controversy amid fears it would escalate ethnic tensions.
ADVERTISEMENTA bridge connecting a Kosovan city’s Serbian ethnic minority with the Albanian ethnic majority will not be authorised for use by vehicles despite earlier plans to do so.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti had announced plans to open the city of Mitrovica’s main bridge for vehicular traffic in early August but changed his mind after some controversy.
His decision came following a negative reaction from the city’s Serbian community and a meeting with CIA director William Burns, who travelled to Kosovo in late August.
“We also discussed about the issue of opening the central bridge over the Ibar River in Mitrovica, for which we had all the necessary consultations,” said Kurti. “However, the maintenance works are also important, such as dealing with the preliminary draft on the physical stability of the bridge.”
The Ibar River bridge separates the northern and southern parts of Mitrovica, where the Serbian minority and Albanian majority live respectively.
When plans to open the bridge for vehicles were announced, the Serbian community, the government in Belgrade, the EU and NATO expressed their concern that the move would increase ethnic tensions and impact the safety of the ethnic Serbs.
After the plans were initially announced, hundreds gathered in protest at the bridge, which has become symbolic of the divided city.
The bridge has been closed to non-pedestrian vehicles since 2011, when ethnic Serbs put up barricades there.
Authorities in Serbia condemned the proposal to open the bridge — saying it was Kosovo’s attempt “to provoke conflict”.
In 2015, the EU-mediated talks between Serbia and Kosovo included a discussion of the bridge.
