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Kosovo Serbs trapped between hammer and anvil

Kosovo: Serb protesters throw teargas at Nato soldiers as internal frictions escalate

Tensions in northern Kosovo could have serious consequences for the local Serbs who make up the majority of the population in the region. Instrumentalized, abandoned, and betrayed by Belgrade, they remain stuck between the Albanian-dominated Kosovo police, who want to take full control over the territory, and NATO’s KFOR troops who reportedly seek to preserve peace and stability on the ground.

The situation in northern Kosovo escalated on May 26 when the Kosovo police special forces (ROSU) violently took over four municipality buildings in Zubin Potok, Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvecan, and Leposavic, aiming to help newly-elected ethnic Albanian mayors take office.

ROSU acted while thousands of local Serbs were in Belgrade attending a pro-government rally. Reports suggest that many of them were transported to the Serbian capital by Albanian bus companies from Kosovo. Thus, it is entirely possible that the ethnic Albanian takeover of the four municipality buildings was part of a larger behind-the-scenes deal between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

But the crisis dates back to April 23 when the Serbs, backed by Belgrade, boycotted local elections, allowing ethnic Albanians to take control over local councils with a turnout of only 3.47 percent. Still, for the Serbian community, new mayors do not have legitimacy, while ROSU units in northern Kosovo are seen as intruders.

Following clashes between the Serbs and ROSU, Serbia’s leader placed the country’s army on full combat alert. Such a a move, however, could be interpreted merely as a PR stunt, given that the Serbian military is extremely unlikely to ever enter Kosovo without NATO’s approval. As a result of the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia, the Serbian police and army were forced to withdraw from the country’s southern province of Kosovo. Then NATO troops entered Kosovo in June 1999, having remained since. In 2008, the authorities in Pristina unilaterally declared independence, a move recognized by most Western countries, although not by five European Union members: Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus.

Belgrade, as well as the local Serbs, see Kosovo as part of Serbia, and the Serbian community in the four northern municipalities refuses to get integrated into the Albanian-dominated Kosovan society. On May 29, the Serbs reportedly tried to retake the administrative buildings guarded not only by ROSU, but also by NATO’s KFOR security forces. In the town of Zvecan, hundreds of people demonstrated in front of the municipality council, but KFOR, according to reports, used stun grenades and rubber bullets against them. As a result, clashes broke out resulting in dozens of injured protesters, as well as KFOR troops.

NATO, for its part, condemned what it described as the “unprovoked attacks against KFOR troops in northern Kosovo”. Vucic, on the other hand, said that Kurti was “the only one to blame” for the latest developments in Zvecan, claiming that Kosovo’s Prime Minister wants a “big conflict between the Serbs and NATO”. Previously, on May 26, the United States and its allies condemned Kurti’s decision to force access to municipal buildings in northern Kosovo, although they did not take any steps to prevent such an action. Therefore, it is not improbable that Kurti got a tacit approval from the West to takeover the municipality buildings in northern Kosovo.

Given that Serbia, and the Serbs in general, were often demonized in the Western media during the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia, the West and its public opinion are not expected to side with the Kosovo Serbs against the Albanian-dominated authorities in Pristina. Instead, the United States and the European Union will continue seeking ways to integrate them into Kosovo’s political, economic and legal system. But since the West does not seem to be interested in a destabilization of the territory that is deeply in the US the EU sphere of influence, it will likely have to make certain concessions to the Serbs. After it became obvious that the Albanian mayors in northern Kosovo cannot take control over towns where more than 95 percent of the population refuses to cooperate with them, sooner or later Pristina will have to hold new local elections in the four Serb-dominated municipalities.

The problem for the local Serbs is that they seem to be on their own against NATO-backed Pristina. They were openly supported only by Novak Djokovic, the Serbian World No. 3 tennis player, who is almost certainly going to take severe consequences for his decision to write “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia, stop violence” on camera after the French Open victory. It is rather questionable whether the Serbs can even count on Belgrade’s full support, especially after Vucic effectively allowed Kurti to take over the municipality councils. That is why many of them accuse their Belgrade-backed leaders of a de facto betrayal.

Indeed, the position of the Serbs in northern Kosovo remains rather difficult. At this point, new local elections seem to be the most realistic outcome of the crisis, although that does not necessarily mean that the Serbian institutions in Zubin Potok, Kosovska Mitrovica, Zvecan, and Leposavic will continue doing business as usual.

On May 26, the Albanian-dominated Kosovo police removed the flag of Serbia from the Zubin Potok municipality building, and replaced it with the flag of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. Such a move would have represented a symbolic end of Serbia’s institutions’ presence in northern Kosovo, had the Kosovan flag not been removed a few days later. In other words, the battle for control over the Serb-dominated municipalities in the region is far from over.

Image: Guardian / YouTube

 

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