The American and European envoys for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar and Miroslav Lajcak, are expected to stay on Monday in Belgrade and on Tuesday in Pristina, to urge the parties to take steps to make the situation tensionless in northern Kosovo, where for more than a week protests are being held in front of municipal buildings.

Western diplomacy is continuing calls for Kosovo and Serbia to commit to restoring calm in the northern Serb-majority municipalities of Zveqan, Zubin Potok and Leposaviq, where on Sunday smaller numbers of Serbian citizens gathered in front of municipal buildings to protest entering the offices of the Albanian mayors in their offices.

The Bahskuara States and the European Union ask Kosovo to remove the special police units from the municipal buildings, the temporary relocation of the new mayors to other alternative offices and the organization of new elections as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Serbia is required to withdraw the Serbian armed forces stationed near the border with Kosovo and reduce the state of readiness, maintain the peace of the protesters in the north and ensure the participation of Kosovo Serbs in new elections.

The European Union on Saturday warned that failure to take steps to defuse the situation will have negative consequences for both sides.

/k.s/