PRISTINA (Kosovo), March 27: The European Union’s top official in Kosovo said on Thursday that an EU mission of police, judges and advisers would need Nato’s protection if it is to try to establish control in Kosovo’s volatile north.

Pieter Feith said the help of the 16,000-strong Nato force, known as KFOR, was needed to secure his staff as they try to persuade minority Serbs to allow them to work in their areas.

Kosovo’s Serbs have fiercely protested the Feb 17 declaration of independence from Serbia by ethnic Albanian leaders, and have sought to seize control of local institutions in northern parts of Kosovo where they dominate.

The EU’s 2,000-member force will face its biggest challenges in Kosovo’s north as it tries to assert its authority among rebellious Serbs.

Feith told The Associated Press in an interview that the mission would depend on Nato “to provide for a safe and secure environment”.

Clashes between Serbs and international forces earlier this month left one Ukrainian policeman dead and dozens injured in the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo.

Further complicating matters, Serbia’s government is seeking the partitioning of Kosovo along ethnic lines as a way to maintain some sway there, at least in Serb-populated areas.

The EU mission will be made up of 1,800 police officials and judges and 200 civilian advisers. Its central aim is to strengthen the rule of law, but it will also have veto power over decisions made by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian-dominated institutions.

The police officers and justice workers are likely to deploy in June. Members of the civilian mission are already in Kosovo, but have been prevented from moving into Kosovo’s north by local Serbs.

The spokesman for the Nato-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo said there were no orders in place for alliance forces to support the deployment of the EU staff. That would require political guidance, he said.

“We are aware of the situation but in fact it’s a political issue,” Col. Jean-Luc Cotard said. “Before doing anything the politicians have to deal with it at the EU, UN and Nato level.”

On Thursday Serbia’s foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, said Belgrade would bring its demand for partition to the United Nations, but Feith said the proposal was unlikely to meet with international support.

In the clashes on March 17, Serbs engaged in a gunfight with United Nations police and KFOR after authorities removed Serb protesters from a UN-run courthouse.

The UN, which has been in charge of administering Kosovo since the end of the 1998-1999 war between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian separatists, has blamed Belgrade for orchestrating the violence. It said there was clear evidence Serbia’s security officers were involved in firing upon international forces and throwing dozens of hand grenades.

UN staff were forced to evacuate and call upon Nato-led peacekeepers to assume control of the city.

The EU’s headquarters in Kosovo’s north, where most of the Serbs live, was targeted by bomb attacks, preventing EU staff from moving into the divided city. The EU has named a British diplomat to be in charge of its work in the divided city.

Feith said Serbia’s authorities lacked a constructive approach in dealing with Kosovo’s independence and the deployment of the EU mission. However, he said there was “responsiveness” from Kosovo’s Serbs to the EU’s messages that there was a “distinct benefit” for the minority.

The EU is trying to lure the Serb minority into accepting its presence through economic incentives in the economically depressed country.

The UN is to transfer power to Kosovo’s state authorities in June, with the EU ensuring Kosovo’s authorities respect the rights of minority Serbs.

—AP