Serbia and Kosovo agree to end border standoff

JARINJE, Kosovo - Serbia and Kosovo reached an agreement on Thursday to end a tense standoff at their border, EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak said.

The two neighbours were at loggerheads for more than 10 days after Kosovo banned vehicles with Serbian registration plates from entering its territory -- mirroring a years-long Serbian practice against vehicles travelling the other way.

After Kosovo dispatched special police units to oversee the ban's implementation, local Serbs rebelled and blocked the roads leading to the border. Serbia then responded by deploying armoured vehicles close to the frontier.

According to a European Union-brokered deal struck in Brussels, Kosovo agreed to remove the special police units on Saturday and the local Serbs agreed to dismantle the barricades at the same time.

"We have a deal! After two days of intense negotiations, an agreement on de-escalation and the way forward has just been reached," Lajcak said on Twitter.

NATO-led peacekeepers from the KFOR mission would also be deployed at the border for two weeks to maintain a "safe and secure environment".

Both sides also agreed to a provisional solution for the number plates -- using a never-implemented past agreement to put stickers over national symbols -- until a permanent compromise is reached in further talks.

'Scared of the weekend'

The latest outbreak of tension between Kosovo and Serbia -- the worst in a decade -- involves the sensitive issue of Kosovo's 120,000 Serb minority.

Most of the remaining Serbs refuse to pledge allegiance to the authorities in Pristina and remain loyal to Serbia.

These ties are particularly strong among the 40,000 Serbs in northern Kosovo, which Belgrade funds heavily.

The situation on the barricades is calm, an AFP correspondent saw, but local Serbs insist that they will only leave once the Kosovar special units go.

"It's good that the Kosovo special police will retreat, when they do, we will too," a 33-year-old Serb demonstrator who gave his name as Ivan told AFP.

"I hope there won't be incidents when we start to leave. I'm scared of the weekend, because I don't trust Kosovo special forces," a 51-year-old man who identified himself as Dragan added.

Some of the protesters told AFP that they were employed by institutions financed by Serbia, and that they were asked to change shifts manning the barricades.

"We have lists and they told us that we should come ... If I didn't come, I don't know what would happen", a woman that wanted to remain anonymous told AFP on the roadblocks.

"I expect -- that if I listen -- they will find a job for my son somewhere," she added.

Both sides claim victory

Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic called the deal "a great victory", adding that he expects a permanent arrangement to be reached within the next six months.

"We have secured the free flow of people and goods, kept the peace and stability", Vucic told reporters.

Newly-elected Kosovar prime minister Albin Kurti -- whose policy is to build relations with Serbia on grounds of reciprocity -- also claims Kosovo got the deal they desired.

"Reciprocity of vehicle license plates is established", Kurti wrote on Facebook.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen -- who was visiting Serbia when the deal was struck -- welcomed the compromise, labelling it a "positive development".

"It's good for the whole region. The dialogue now needs to continue," von der Leyen tweeted.

Gabriel Escobar, US envoy for the region, also applauded the deal but underlined that there is "still an awful lot on the agenda" between two sides that needs adressing.

The late 1990s war between independence-seeking ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Serbian forces claimed 13,000 lives, mainly Kosovo Albanians.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and has since been formally recognised by roughly 100 countries, but not by Belgrade and its powerful allies China and Russia.

The EU has been mediating the talks on resolving one of Europe's most intractable territorial disputes for a decade, but the dialogue has so far failed to achieve normalisation of their ties.