Some are furious, others resigned, but most Serbs in northern Kosovo feel betrayed by a historic deal reached by Belgrade and Pristina to normalise ties in a step to heal the festering enmity in the Balkans' last trouble-spot. "Belgrade betrayed and cheated us," Marko Dimitrijevic, a 32-year-old pharmacist, said bitterly while sipping a coffee in a cafe in the northern Kosovan city of Kosovska Mitrovica.

The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo initialled a historic deal Friday to normalise ties, a move key to the future of the Western Balkans and destined also to bring both closer to the European Union. Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaci signed a 15-point agreement struck after two years of tough talks to reduce mutual tension and immediately won praise from around the world. "What we are seeing is a step away from the past and, for both of them, a step closer to Europe," said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Serbia and its former province of Kosovo initialled a historic deal Friday to normalise ties, a move key to the future of the Western Balkans and destined also to bring both closer to the European Union. Hailed as a milestone deal by EU leaders, the premiers of Serbia and Kosovo, Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaci, put their signatures to a 15-point agreement struck after two years of tough talks to reduce mutual tension. "What we are seeing is a step away from the past and, for both of them, a step closer to Europe," said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Kosovo Serbs want Serbia to hold a referendum on whether to accept the EU-sponsored deal signed on Friday in Brussels between Belgrade and Pristina that would normalise their relations. Kosovo Serb deputies in northern Kosovo "demand a referendum in Serbia to be called in which the citizens will decide whether Kosovo will remain in Serbia or accept the deal that would give it a date to start negotiations with the EU," said a resolution adopted after the deal was signed in Brussels.