Ethnic Albanians in Presevo welcome Albanian PM

Prime Minister Edi Rama was welcomed by several thousand ethnic Albanians when he arrived in the southern Serbian town of Presevo on Tuesday. Many waved Albanian flags and chanted the prime minister's name.

Banners hung around the town bearing a portrait of Rama draped in the Albanian flag and the words "Welcome Mr. Prime Minister."

The Serbian police implemented high-security measures for Rama's visit to the region, which borders on Kosovo and Macedonia. Police closed the main highway linking Belgrade with the Macedonian capital, Skopje, as well as a 20-kilometer (12-mile) stretch of road that links the region with Kosovo. The Presevo Valley was the scene of an uprising by ethnic Albanian fighters against Serbian forces in 1999, and Rama's visite there is considered by many to be provocative.

Rama's visit to Serbia is the first by an Albanian leader since 1946 and, not surprisingly, given the traditionally difficult relations between the two neighboring states, it hasn't been without controversy.

Clash over Kosovo

During his visit to Belgrade on Monday, Rama and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, clashed over Kosovo, a mainly ethnic-Albanian territory that declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but which Belgrade still claims as its own.

"We have two entirely different positions on Kosovo, but there is one reality and this is irreversible," Rama told a joint press conference following their meeting. "Independent Kosovo is an undeniable regional and European reality, and it must be respected."

A visibly angered Vucic described Rama's statement as an act of "provocation."

"According to the constitution, Kosovo is Serbia and I am obliged to say that no one can humiliate Serbia," Vucic said.

Despite their many differences, the two countries, both of which aspire to one day join the European Union, could use the meeting to start a new, more harmonious chapter in their relations.

Football match abandoned

Tensions were raised again last month, when a drone swept into a Belgrade football stadium during a Euro 2016 qualifying soccer match between the two countries. The drone carried a flag of "greater Albania," and a scuffle broke out when one of the Serbian players pulled it down, triggering a pitch invasion which saw the Albanian players flee into their dressing room. The match had to be abandoned.

Rama had originally been scheduled to travel to Belgrade the following week, but postponed the visit over that incident.

pfd/mkg (Reuters,dpa, AFP)