By Athena Papakosta

THE tension between Serbia and Kosovo flared up this week after police raided Serb-dominated northern areas occupying municipal buildings.

Violent clashes broke out between Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers with Kosovo Serbs, with many – on both sides – injured.

Belgrade put Serbia’s armed forces on high alert and ordered the movement of units to the administrative border with Kosovo, while NATO is calling on Pristina and Belgrade to take the initiative to de-escalate the situation.

For its part, Russia, an old ally of Serbia, warns that the situation is worrying and could cause another conflict in the heart of Europe.

In particular, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, emphasized that “a big explosion is happening in the center of Europe, exactly where in 1999 NATO launched an attack against Yugoslavia, violating all the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and the OSCE documents ». At the same time, Beijing says it is monitoring the developments with the foreign ministry spokesman calling on NATO to “contribute to regional peace” while respecting “the territorial sovereignty” of Serbia and Kosovo.

To date, approximately 3,800 soldiers of the NATO force KFOR are in Kosovo with the purpose of maintaining peace and monitoring the borders. However, yesterday NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that “we have decided to deploy another 700 soldiers from the Operational Reserve Force (ORF) to the Western Balkans and place another reserve force battalion on high alert so that it can developed as well, if necessary’.

The latest round of tension concerns the local elections that were held a month ago and from which the Serbs abstained, at the behest of Belgrade. Last Friday the newly elected mayors of Albanian ethnicity went to their offices accompanied by the police authorities. For their part, the Serbs, who do not recognize the result of the municipal elections, prevented the mayors from attending them by creating a cordon around the entrances to prevent them from taking office. Clashes immediately broke out with Kosovo police intervening and occupying buildings in four different cities in the north in an attempt to break up the gatherings of the Serb population.

The Serbian side is asking for elections to be held after the Union of Serbian Municipalities is first established, an obligation that Pristina undertook in 2013 under the Brussels Agreement but refuses to implement and Belgrade, with its armed forces on high alert, makes it clear that it will not sit idly by if the Kosovo Serbs are attacked again.

The United States has already called on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to reverse course with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken issuing a stern statement making clear that Pristina’s actions were against the advice of the US and European partners as they “escalated sharply and needlessly ratcheting up the tension, undermining our efforts to normalize relations” stressing that there will be “consequences for our bilateral relations with Kosovo”.

A brief history of the last crisis

In Kosovo, it smells like gunpowder again and the new developments do not surprise anyone since last August a new cycle of tension was opened by the Pristina authorities’ attempt to force the members of the Serbian minority to change their old license plates, which had been issued before in 1999. Then there was immediate tension with the Serbs refusing to hand over their Serbian plates. After EU assistance and mainly after US intervention, Kosovo eventually suspended any further action and Serbia committed not to issue or renew car registration plates for Serbs living in towns in northern Kosovo.

However, the situation flared up again last December with the arrest of an ethnic Serb police officer who was suspected of involvement in attacks on Kosovar police officers. Serbian protesters set up roadblocks in northern Kosovo, paralyzing traffic to two border crossings with Serbia. Pristina responded by deploying a strong police force and eventually moved to postpone municipal elections scheduled for December 18 to April 23.

Fragile balance

Kosovo has a population of at least 1.8 million. 92% are Albanians and only 6% are Serbs.

War broke out in 1998 and hostilities ended in 1999 following NATO military intervention.

In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia, which does not accept it and in its Constitution mentions Kosovo as an integral part of the country.

The international community remains divided with many countries having recognized its independence – with the US and Turkey being the first – and others including Russia, Greece, Cyprus and Spain not. At the same time, both Serbia and Kosovo want to join the EU with Brussels reminding them of their 2013 commitment to dialogue and normalization of relations.