Years of simmering conflict between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo heated up after mayoral elections, sparking clashes between protesters and NATO soldiers.
Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo erupted into violence this week after Kosovo police raided Serb-majority areas in the north and took control of local government buildings.
Ethnic Serbs then took to the streets to protest, trying to storm the town hall of Zvecan on May 29, leading to clashes with Kosovo police and NATO peacekeeping forces (KFOR), injuring dozens of Hungarian and Italian soldiers participating in the mission.
Tensions have escalated to the point where Serbia has put its army on high alert and warned it will not stand idly by if Kosovo Serbs are attacked again, raising fears of a new conflict in Kosovo.
Kosovo is a territory with a predominantly Albanian population. The area was once a province of Serbia, but declared independence in 2008. However, Serbia does not recognize it and still considers it part of its territory.
About 100 countries have recognized Kosovo's independence, including the United States, while Russia, China and five European Union (EU) countries have sided with Serbia. This has caused tensions and hampered the stability of the Balkan region after bloody wars in the 1990s.
A police car burns during clashes between Serbian protesters and Kosovo police in the town of Zvecan on May 26. Photo: Reuters
The dispute over Kosovo has been going on for centuries. Serbia regards the region as its religious and cultural center, with many of Serbia's Orthodox Christian monasteries located in the area. Serbian nationalists view the 1389 battle against the Ottomans in Kosovo as a symbol of their national struggle.
But most Albanians in Kosovo consider it their own country and accuse Serbia of wilful occupation. Albanians launched an uprising in 1998 to break free from Serbian rule.
Belgrade's fierce suppression of the uprising prompted NATO to intervene with an air campaign in 1999, forcing Serbia to withdraw its troops and cede control of Kosovo to international peacekeeping forces.
Since then, tensions between the Kosovo government and ethnic Serbs living in the north of the country have not eased. Efforts by the Kosovo government to gain more control in the north have often met with strong resistance from ethnic Serbs.
The town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo has been split in two, with one part controlled by Albanians and the other by Serbs. There are also smaller areas in southern Kosovo with large Serb concentrations. Meanwhile, central Serbia is also home to tens of thousands of ethnic Kosovars who fled with the withdrawal of Serbian troops in 1999.
There have been repeated international efforts to reach a consensus between the two sides, but so far there has been no result. EU officials have mediated talks to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo. Many agreements have been reached during the talks, but they have rarely been strictly followed.
The idea of changing the border and swapping territories between Kosovo and Serbia to resolve the conflict has been rejected by many EU countries because of concerns that it could lead to a chain reaction in other disputed areas, further destabilizing the Balkan region.
Both Kosovo and Serbia are led by nationalist leaders who are unwilling to compromise.
In Kosovo, Albin Kurti, a former student protest leader, is in power and has been a key player in EU-brokered negotiations. He is also known to be a strong supporter of Kosovo's unification with Albania and is opposed to any compromise with Serbia.
Serbia, meanwhile, is led by populist President Aleksandar Vucic, a former information minister during the war in Kosovo. The ultranationalist leader has stressed that any solution must be a long-term compromise, adding that his country will not agree to a resolution of the conflict without getting something in return.
The situation heated up last month, when local governments in northern Kosovo held elections, electing four new Albanian mayors to replace Serbian officials who resigned en masse in November 2022. When the newly elected Albanian mayors moved into their offices on May 26, Serbs tried to block them, forcing Kosovo riot police to use tear gas to deal with them.
Three days later, Serbs held protests in front of city halls, leading to serious clashes between them and Kosovo peacekeepers and local police.
Location of the breakaway territory of Kosovo. Graphic: Britannica
International officials are hoping to accelerate negotiations and reach a resolution in the coming months. Both Kosovo and Serbia must normalize relations if they want to become members of the EU. Failure to achieve a major breakthrough in the talks means continued instability, leaving both sides at risk of economic decline and continued conflict.
Any intervention by Serbian troops in Kosovo would mean clashes with NATO peacekeepers there. Belgrade controls Serbian Kosovo, and Kosovo cannot become a member of the United Nations or a real state without resolving its dispute with Serbia, according to AP commentator Dusan Stojanovic.
Thanh Tam (According to AP )
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