Tense situation between Serbia and Kosovo could escalate into a war
2022.12.28 14:20
Tense situation between Serbia and Kosovo could escalate into a war
Budrigannews.com – As authorities closed a third border crossing on Wednesday and tensions with local Serbs over Kosovo’s independence in 2008 escalated, the European Union, the United States, and NATO all urged maximum restraint in the north of the country.
The West, which supported Kosovo’s independence, and Russia, which supports Serbia in its efforts to prevent Kosovo from joining international organizations like the United Nations, have been at odds over the past two decades.
The European Union and the United States issued a joint statement that read, “We call on everyone to exercise maximum restraint, to take immediate action to unconditionally de-escalate the situation, and to refrain from provocations, threats, or intimidation.”
KFOR, the NATO mission in Kosovo, stated that it supported dialogue between all parties to ease tensions, which have included violent clashes with police and Serb roadblocks placed by trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles on major roads.
On Monday, Serbia put its army on high alert.
Kosovo’s claims that Serbia was influencing Serbia to destabilize Kosovo were denied by the Kremlin, which claimed that Serbia was protecting the rights of ethnic Serbs.
A spokesperson for the Pristina Basic Court told Reuters that the prosecutors’ office requested that a former Kosovo Serb policeman be released from custody and placed under house arrest. The arrest of the Serb minority in Kosovo sparked violent protests.
After Serbs in northern Kosovo exchanged fire with police and erected more than ten roadblocks in support of Dejan Pantic’s release, Pantic was arrested on December 10 for assaulting a serving police officer.
Officials from the Kosovo government, including Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Justice Minister Albulena Haxhiu, were outraged by the court’s decision.
According to Haxhiu, “I don’t know how to understand it” or “how it is possible that someone who is accused of such a serious crime related to terrorism goes to house arrest.”
Kurti made the statement, “I am very curious to see who is the prosecutor who makes this request, and who is the judge of preliminary procedure who approves it.”
Pantic was one of numerous Serbs who left the police and different establishments after Pristina said it would implement a regulation expecting Serbs to scrap Serbian-gave vehicle tags tracing all the way back to before the 1998-99 guerrilla uprising that prompted Kosovo’s freedom.
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A Serbian official said on Wednesday that, following Pantic’s release, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has reassured ethnic Serbs in Kosovo that they will not face prosecution and urged them to put an end to their protests against the Pristina government.
Vucic and Serbs from the north of Kosovo, according to Petar Petkovic, head of the Serbian government office for Kosovo, will meet later on Wednesday to determine whether the barricades will be removed.
Any action that they perceive to be anti-Serb is resisted by Serbs in northern Kosovo, which they believe to still be a part of Serbia.
On December 10, two border crossings between Serbia and Kosovo were closed, and on Wednesday, a third one, Merdare, the biggest one for road freight, was closed to traffic. This made it hard for Kosovars who were working elsewhere in Europe to get home for the holidays.
Xhelal Svecla, the interior minister of Kosovo, stated on Tuesday that Serbia was attempting to destabilize Kosovo. Serbia claims it only intends to safeguard its minority there.
Around 50,000 Serbs who live in northern Kosovo deny that Kosovo is a separate nation and that the government in Pristina is legitimate. Numerous Serbs in Serbia and its government back them.
Following a war in 1998-1999 in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanian citizens, Kosovo, a country with a majority of Albanians, declared independence with the support of the West.
