After weeks of rising tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, the Serbian army has reached its “highest level of war preparation.”
President Aleksandar Vucic asserts that he would “take all necessary steps to safeguard our people and preserve Serbia.”
Following media accusations in Serbia that Pristina is preparing “an attack” on ethnic Serb communities in north Kosovo, the saber-rattling is louder than ever.
The Pristina government has not commented on the claims.
However, it has previously accused Mr. Vucic of engaging in “games” to incite unrest.
Kosovo, which has an overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian population, declared independence from Serbia in 1998-1999 following a war. Neither Serbia nor the ethnic Serbs residing in Kosovo recognize Kosovo as an independent state.
Belgrade accuses Kosovo of organizing “terrorism against Serbs” in regions containing approximately 50,000 ethnic Serbs.
In retaliation, Pristina asserts that Belgrade is the source of “paramilitary formations” that erected roadblocks in majority-Serb areas of northern Kosovo on 10 December.
The European Union has attempted to act as a mediator. The 27-member group calls for “maximum restraint and rapid action” and for the Serbian and Kosovo leaders to “personally contribute to a political solution.”
In recent days, Belgrade has strengthened its armed presence at the border following conflicting accounts of a shooting incident in which no one was injured. According to reports from Belgrade, ethnic Serbs were attacked, although Kosovo officials in Pristina refuted this assertion.
Despite this, Serbia seems to have used the reports as justification for increasing its military presence along the border.
To now, hostilities have been limited to angry words; nevertheless, on Monday, Serbia’s army was placed on battle alert. Kosovo has threatened to take matters into its own hands if NATO’s KFOR peacekeeping force does not remove the barricades.
NATO, which has over 3,700 peacekeepers in Kosovo, has urged all parties to refrain from provocations. KFOR troops have played a critical role in maintaining peace for years. The European Union, which has a rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, has issued a warning that it would not tolerate illegal conduct or attacks on EU police.
It is an alarmingly explosive situation. Since the unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia in 2008, tensions between Belgrade and Pristina have fluctuated.
In recent months, however, tensions have reached an all-time high, with ethnic Serbs abandoning all cooperation with Kosovo authorities.
The cause was, of all things, a dispute over license plates. Pristina requested that ethnic Serbs turn in the Serbian license plates they had continued to use on their vehicles and replace them with “Republic of Kosovo” ones.
The significance of the symbolism was shared by all sides.
It was a matter of asserting Pristina’s sovereignty. The license plates of Kosovo Serbs symbolized their identity. Few completed the exchange before the deadline.
Pristina’s decision to punish the holdouts prompted a huge exodus of ethnic Serbs from all of Kosovo’s state institutions last month. This included police, with over 600 ethnic Serb policemen surrendering their identification credentials.
A compromise arrangement on license plates mediated by the EU could not convince them to return. Instead, Belgrade insists that Kosovo honor a commitment made in a 2013 Brussels deal to allow Serbs some autonomy via an association of towns with a majority Serb population.
The European Union requested Pristina to establish the organization. Albin Kurti, prime minister of Kosovo, is adamantly opposed to the proposal. He believes it would result in a Serbia-controlled mini-state within Kosovo.
After an ethnic Serb former police officer was arrested on suspicion of attacking the Kosovo force, barriers sprung up in the absence of any diplomatic progress.
The border crossings between northern Kosovo and Serbia are obstructed. In addition, on Tuesday morning, fresh roadblocks were erected in North Mitrovica, the largest majority-Serb city in Kosovo.
International factors also play a role. Kosovo has accused Serbia of doing Russia’s bidding by sowing discord in the Western Balkans to divert attention from the conflict in Ukraine.
US and EU special envoys have spent weeks engaged in shuttle diplomacy. However, they have been unsuccessful thus far in bringing Kosovo and Serbia to the negotiating table.
The NATO forces are being asked by both Belgrade and Pristina to protect the Serbs and to remove the barriers.
The EU’s demands for maximal caution sounded almost frantic. Even though it is the holiday season, goodwill remains scarce in this ongoing dispute.
