Chollet cancels visit to Kosovo

(Patria) - US State Department Senior Advisor Derek Chollet has cancelled his visit to Kosovo for "family reasons", Radio Free Europe (RSE) has learned.

Chollet and US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar were scheduled to meet with top Kosovo officials on the afternoon of December 12, and with representatives of political parties on the morning of December 13.

It is unclear whether Chollet will cancel or proceed with the rest of his planned visit to the Balkans and Brussels, which was announced by the US State Department last week.

A statement from the Kosovo Government announced that Prime Minister Albin Kurti will meet only with Escobar on the afternoon of December 12.

The US visit comes at a time when the situation in northern Kosovo - an area predominantly inhabited by Serbs - is tense.

On December 10, a number of citizens of Serbian nationality from that area erected barricades and blocked roads leading to the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings with Serbia.