Serbia warns Kosovo on disputed border crossings

Serbia has cautioned that attempts by Kosovo to take control of disputed border outposts in northern Kosovo could spark renewed tensions between the two neighbours.

Serbia's President Boris Tadic made the warning on 13th September, calling Kosovo's plan to deploy police and customs officials at the outposts on the Serbian border “the height of irresponsibility and dangerous behaviour” and demanding dialogue with international mediators.

The plan, announced last week by Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, has prompted serious discontent in northern Kosovo, which is mainly populated by ethnic Serbs, unlike the Albanian-majority southern areas. Serb community leaders in northern Kosovo have threatened to block the roads if the government in Pristina attempts to deploy police and border units. The region exists in administrative limbo, within Kosovo's international borders but without much trace of the Albanian-dominated state apparatus.

The rise in tensions follows a summer of border violence, when a previous attempt by the Kosovan government to take control of the outposts was met with violent protests from ethnic Serbs who reject Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. One ethnic Albanian policeman was killed in the rioting, which prompted NATO's peacekeepers to take control of the checkpoints, despite Serb roadblocks.

The most recent war of words comes despite a trade agreement between Belgrade and Pristina, signed on 2nd September, under which the two sides agreed to lift tit-for-tat import embargoes. Thaci's decision to try and regain control of the border, as part of a wider drive to strengthen control over the Serbian north of Kosovo, suggests that the EU-brokered trade deal has led to overconfidence in Pristina.

Redeployment of police units to the border could jeopardise the fragile progress made so far on bilateral trade ties. It would also risk damaging both countries' painstaking path towards EU membership. Brussels has made it clear that a stable and peaceful relationship between Pristina and Belgrade is a prerequisite for either of them to move closer towards full EU membership.

Serbian officials have demanded that international mediators intervene to prevent Kosovo's latest moves. Until the Kosovan government renounces its right to police the border, however, it is unlikely to back down, and a new border confrontation seems increasingly likely.

Sources: Reuters, Voice of America, Bloomberg

International reaction to violence on the Kosovo-Serbia border

After last week's clashes in northern Kosovo which left a Kosovan policeman dead and NATO/KFOR peacekeepers under fire, additional peacekeeping forces were sent to the region on Tuesday (2 August) to relieve those that had been involved since the start of the crisis. NATO has stressed that this does not represent a reaction to the escalation of the crisis which began when Kosovan police attempted to take over two border crossings, and ethnic Serbs subsequently attacked a border post on 28 July.

In addition, Kosovo has imposed a de facto trade embargo on Serbia. The timing, if not the nature, of this development is surprising for it has been three years since the Serbian government in Belgrade banned imports from Kosovo as a consequence of Pristina's unilateral declaration of independence.

The Belgrade government and the Serb minority in northern Kosovo have never recognised the independent government of Kosovo. On 31 July a declaration of the Serbian government criticised the actions of the authorities in Pristina. Since then, Belgrade has been sure to signal its commitment to the peaceful resolution of the present crisis through dialogue; President Tadic has stated that, in light of the recent history of the Balkans, that the preservation of regional stability is the priority.

Nonetheless, elements of the minority Serb population in northern Kosovo have perceived a provocation to violence in the activities of the Kosovan government. 60,000 Serbs live in the north; among this population there is little acceptance of the region's control by Pristina. Accordingly, the authorities there exercise little effective control in the north of the territory that is defined by their Republic's Constitution. With this, and an associated measure of pragmatism in mind, the international players that have recognised Kosovo's independence over the last three years have encouraged it to pursue an incremental strategy in this respect.

Nonetheless, recognising the more conciliatory and cooperative stance adopted by the present Belgrade government towards the international community, external actors have signalled their general disapproval of the Pristina's actions. The EU High Representative on foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, indicated the EU's disapproval, and the US State Department criticised Pristina for not coordinating its actions with the international community. At the UN, the Secretary-General called for restraint and dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina facilitated by the EU. China—the only power to abstain at the formulation of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999), which mandated the international presence in Serbia/Kosovo, and one which was highly critical of the NATO action in 1999—expressed its regret over the Pristina administration's activities which it blamed for the increasing tensions.

Internationally, then, there seems to exist the recognition that the present crisis has been brought on by the provocation of the Pristina government led by Hashim Thaci. This, however, will not affect the international community's line on Kosovo. The UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have emphasised the inviolability of Kosovo's territorial integrity since its independence, and this will continue to guide practice.

In 2010, in its advisory opinion, the ICJ stated that Pristina's declaration of independence in 2008 did not violate international law; eighty states including, crucially, most EU members have recognised the Republic of Kosovo. Pristina's challenge to the status quo has been heavily criticised by the international actors but, nonetheless, there is little that the Serbian government can do to avoid its present bind. Having extradited the war criminals, Mladic and Hazdic, to the Hague Tribunal, President Tadic has sought to bring Serbia's EU accession closer. But with the main international players recognising the personality and territorial disposition of Kosovo, the status of the Serb enclave—and the issue of territorial cession and the unsavoury precedent that it could set for other parts of the Balkans—will have to be addressed. The resolution of territorial disputes is a longstanding condition of EU membership and the recent provocation by Pristina will cause a headache in Belgrade, where the government appears convinced of a need to move away from its own past and towards the EU.

Sources: Al Jazeera, BBC, Dallas Morning News, Spiegel, United Nations

Violence on Kosovo-Serbian border leaves one dead

77 countries have recognised Kosovo's independence from Serbia

NATO has deployed peacekeepers to the north of Kosovo after clashes broke out on Kosovo's border with Serbia.

Kosovo's government ordered special police forces to take over two border posts in order to enforce a ban on imports from Serbia on the night of Monday 25th July. The post had previously been manned by ethnic Serb police, and Kosovo's government suspected them of turning a blind eye to banned imports.

Serbian nationalists in the region responded immediately, and in violence on Tuesday 26th July, a Kosovar police officer was killed, reportedly with a gunshot to the head. Four others were injured

A group of about 200 Serbian nationalists in Kosovo again attacked the Jarinje border post on Wednesday 27th July. They forced the Kosovar police and customs officers, as well as their EU counterparts, to flee, before burning down the border post.

The attackers also reportedly fired shots at a nearby outpost run by the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR). The attackers were described as masked men, armed with axes, clubs, pipes and guns.

NATO said that its troops were able to retake control of both border crossings on Thursday, despite being attacked by Serbs, armed with fire bombs.

NATO has been involved in the region since 1999 when it intervened to stop the ethnic cleansing of Albanians by Serb forces. It currently has around 6,000 troops stationed in the region, but given the most recent outburst of violence, analysts are questioning whether it is enough.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci defended the move, saying the operation was necessary, and that “it was a concrete step in establishing the rule of law” in Kosovo's volatile north. The operation was called “provocative” by the US and was similarly criticised by the EU.

Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, has an Albanian ethnic majority. Serbia, however, does not recognise its former province as an independent state, and some 60,000 Serbs living in the north of the country are still loyal to Belgrade.

The current border situation has to do with Kosovo's custom stamp. Serbia does not recognise the stamp, fearing that doing so would be tantamount to recognising the country's independence. As such, exports from Kosovo to Serbia are effectively banned.

In retaliation, Kosovo's government recently implemented an import ban on Serbian goods, and seized the border posts in the north to ensure the ban was being enforced.

The UN Security Council held a closed meeting on Thursday 28th July in order to discuss the issue.

Solving the conflict with Kosovo is among the conditions Serbia must meet before it can be considered for EU accession. EU-mediated discussions have been taking place between Kosovo and Serbia, but little progress has been made.

Sources: AFP, BBC News, Spiegel, Voice of America

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