Serb returnee's tractor stolen in Kosovo

BELGRADE - The Serbian government office for Kosovo condemned on Monday the theft of a tractor belonging to Serb returnee Vlada Raskovic from the village Duge Njive, Klina, and demanded that the authorities find the culprits urgently and finally put an end to constant pressure on the Serbs in Kosovo.

The theft occurred on Sunday night, the office stated, adding that the vehicle was a gift from a European Commission delegation to the Serb refugees returning to Duge Njive.

The tractor was stolen at the height of the spring planting season, which, along with the obstacles placed by the local ethnic Albanians on roads leading to Serb owned fields, threatens the survival of 8 returnee families in the village, the statement says.

Returning Serb refugees in Klina have been attacked or pressured several times since the start of the year, which was the reason for Serbia's Minister without Portfolio Aleksandar Vulin's recent visit to them.

During that visit, Vulin appealed to the international community not to reduce its presence in Kosovo, adding that life would become unbearable for the returnees without international representatives.

Houses belonging to former Serb refugees were set on fire in the villages of Klinavac and Drsnik, two Serb houses were robbed and vandalized in Klina and a cow was stolen from a family with 5 children in the village of Zac four days earlier.

"The lack of reaction from the authorities in Pristina and the international community so far encourages the culprits to repeat their attacks on the Serbs and their property. It is a clear message that the Serbs returning to their abandoned homes are not welcome and that their life will be made unsustainable in any way possible," the...

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