Montenegro May Take Kosovo Border Dispute to Court

Montenegrin officials on Wednesday warned that a border dispute with neighbouring Kosovo "will go before a competent international court", if there is no agreement between the two countries soon.

In determining the border between Kosovo and Montenegro, two locations covering about 6,000 acres remain disputed. Both countries lay claim to the land and 12 meetings between
Montenegro and Kosovo have not yielded a settlement.

Kosovo and Montenegro started consultations on signing an agreement on border demarcation in 2012. Montenegro has 79km-long border with Kosovo, in the northeast.

After two years of talks, Kosovo and Montenegro were due to sign a deal in March, but it was postponed with no explanation. Both governments anounced that the demarcation agreement would be signed "soon".

Residents of border villages near the western Kosovo city of Pec have protested about the unclear border on several occasions.

The head of Montenegro's Real Estate Administration Dragan Kovacevic said Kosovo's border commission was being pressurised by local people who use the mountain pastures lying in Montenegro, and imagine that it forms part of Kosovo.

"We have stronge arguments that it is our territory and we won't give up on inch of our country," Kovacevic said.