During an official top visit by UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker in the village of Gorazhdevc in western Kosovo ethnic Serbs clashed with French KFOR soldiers, leaving several injured and forcing the top officials to flee out of the chaos with a military chopper.

PEJË (New Kosova Report) - Ruecker together with the commander of KFOR Lt. Gen Xavier Bout de Marnhac was visiting the village outside of the western city of Peja when Serbian men assaulted a French soldier. Shortly thereafter a group of over 50 local Serbs joined in and assaulted the French troops, who after reinforcements managed to break down the attack.

As the chaos broke out, KFOR acted by transporting Ruecker and de Marnhac with a special chopper out of the village to safety while the fight continued in the village. The fight hindered Ruecker and de Marnhac to hold a speech to the inhabitants of the village as was predicted. There was no reports of the amount of arrests nor the amount of injured people but according to local sources several people were left injured after the clash. KFOR are yet to make a statement about the clash with local Serbs.

This is not the first time clashes with ethnic Serbs in Kosovo has hit KFOR nor the political leaders. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Agim Çeku was forced to get to northern Kosovo by military choppers and a huge security surveillance in one of few visits to northern Kosovo a few months ago. Most local leaders and international often chose to skip their trips to Serbian areas due to the fact of possible uprisings.

UNMIK later on issued a press release claiming that the assault on KFOR and UNMIK was orchestrated by Belgrade itself. Ruecker was outrageous in his statement for the press claiming that this was a try from Serbia’s authorities to "intimidate and threaten" the international organizations. "This is much more than pressure, this is outright threat". Ruecker himself stated that he had sources that claimed that Belgrade was behind but he was yet to prove this, "we will try and certify that. But it’s absolutely unacceptable" he finished.

Gorazhdevc was one of many Serbian enclaves in Kosovo which de Marnhac toured to convince local Serbs that KFOR was to provide them with maximum security in case of any security threats. However it seemed like he left the village more intimidated than the locals.

By Salih Shala