Comment Kosovo and Serbia — two Balkan countries that fought a bloody war in the 1990s and have lived in uneasy coexistence ever since — are once again at odds, this time over moves by Kosovo to force Serbs living in the north areas to obtain license plates issued by the Kosovo authorities. The seemingly casual move is anything but, as the status of Serbs living near the border between Serbia and Kosovo is at the center of a protracted conflict between the two governments. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, but Serbia still considers Kosovo its province. “The overall security situation in the northern municipalities of Kosovo is tense,” NATO’s peacekeeping force in Kosovo said in a statement on Sunday. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said: “We have never been in a more difficult situation.”
What are the tensions in Kosovo? The latest flare-up of tensions is linked to new rules on license plates and cross-border travel documents. Under new regulations set to take effect on August 1, Serbs living in villages in northern Kosovo would have to apply for license plates issued by the Kosovo authorities for their vehicles. Since the 1998-99 war, some in this population had been using Serbian license plates with a different status. Authorities in Kosovo tolerated the dual-track system to keep the peace, but said last year they would no longer do so. Another rule would force Serbian nationals visiting Kosovo to obtain an additional entry-exit document from Kosovo authorities at the border. Previously, they could enter without it. Serbia imposes a similar rule on Kosovars seeking to cross its border. Kosovo-Serbia tensions flare. NATO peacekeepers are monitoring the protests at the border The government in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, has been trying for years to impose full institutional control over ethnic Serb-majority areas in northern Kosovo, but has faced stiff resistance from residents who still consider their communities part of Serbia. On Sunday, Serbs blocked roads in northern Kosovo to protest the new rules, forcing Kosovo authorities to close two border crossings, Jarinje and Brnjak. Kosovo police said shots were fired in their direction during the protests, though no one was injured, Reuters reported. Belgrade argues that the new rules violate the 2011 agreement on free movement between Kosovo and Serbia. Kosovo’s allies, including the United States and the European Union, have called for calm and urged Pristina to delay implementation of the new rules. Late Sunday, Kosovo agreed to a 30-day delay if all roadblocks were removed. Albin Kurti, Kosovo’s prime minister, accused the protesters of trying to “destabilize” Kosovo and accused Serbia of orchestrating “aggressive actions” during the protests. Working with our international allies, we are committed to suspending the implementation of the decisions on car plates and entry-exit documents at border crossings with Serbia for 30 days, provided that all roadblocks are removed and full traffic is restored freedom of movement. pic.twitter.com/oJNaQi0qPO — Albin Kurti (@albinkurti) July 31, 2022 Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, welcomed Kosovo’s decision to delay the new measures until September 1 and said he expected “all roadblocks to be removed immediately”.
How does this relate to the Serbia-Kosovo conflict? The roots of the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo go back to the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 2000s, which was followed by a prolonged period of ethnic conflict between the Yugoslav republics in the 1990s. Serbia and Kosovo fought a brutal war between 1998 and 1999 which ended with NATO’s participation in a US-backed bombing campaign against Serbian territory. Serbia is a majority Orthodox Christian nation, but Kosovo — formerly a province of Yugoslavia — is dominated by Albanians, who are largely Muslim, apart from a minority of ethnic Serbs. Tensions flared between the groups, particularly over moves in 1989 by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, a Serb nationalist, to abolish Kosovo’s autonomy enshrined in the Yugoslav constitution. In response, Kosovar fighters formed the Kosovo Liberation Army and staged attacks against Serbia in the following years as they pushed for a new state that would include the region’s ethnic Albanian minorities. Members of the Kosovo Liberation Army were also accused of committing war crimes against Serbs in Kosovo and those they considered collaborators. The authorities in Belgrade violently destroyed the Kosovo Albanian population, viewing them as supporters of the KLA and its separatist attacks. More than 1 million Kosovo Albanians were driven from their homes. Western countries and NATO became involved, bringing the parties close to France in February 1999 to negotiate a ceasefire. While the Kosovo side agreed to a cease-fire, Yugoslavia—which until then included only Serbia and Montenegro—did not. Atrocities committed against Kosovo Albanians continued in what the US State Department at the time called a “systematic campaign” by “Serbian forces and paramilitaries” to “ethnically cleanse Kosovo”. In response, NATO launched a devastating 11-week bombing campaign against Yugoslavia that ended in June 1999, when the country signed an agreement with NATO to allow a peacekeeping force in Kosovo.
Why is NATO in Kosovo and what is its mandate? NATO has had a peacekeeping force in Kosovo — Kosovo Force, or KFOR — since June 1999. The creation of the force was approved by a UN Security Council resolution. KFOR’s original goal was to prevent a resumption of conflict between Serbs and Albanians after NATO and Yugoslavia signed a peace agreement that allowed the return of Albanians displaced by the war. Since then, the force has been gradually reduced, from about 50,000 troops to less than 4,000 today. In its own words, it works to maintain security and stability in the region, supports humanitarian groups and civil society, trains and supports the Kosovo Security Force, and “supports the development of a stable, democratic, multi-ethnic and peaceful Kosovo.” . In its statement on the protests in Kosovo on Sunday, KFOR said it was “monitoring” the situation and was “ready to intervene if stability is threatened.”
How does this relate to the Russia-Ukraine war? The Balkans have not escaped the aftermath of the war in Ukraine. Kosovo has been supporting Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, which Kurti, the prime minister, called “an attack on all of us.” Ukraine has not recognized Kosovo’s independence. Russia — a longtime ally of Serbia — also does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state, and has echoed Serbia’s president in blaming the government in Pristina for renewed tensions in northern Kosovo. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, accused Kosovo on Sunday of using the new licensing laws and identity documents to discriminate against the Serb population. “We call on Pristina and the United States and the European Union to support it to stop the provocation and uphold the rights of Serbs in Kosovo,” he said, according to Russia’s official Tass news agency. Russian President Vladimir Putin has invoked Kosovo to justify his recognition of two separatist provinces in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region. “Many Western states have recognized [Kosovo] as an independent state,” Putin told UN chief Antonio Guterres when the two met in April. “We did the same in relation to the Donbass democracies.” Rachel Pannett and Ishaan Tharoor contributed to this report.
