Tension reappears in Kosovo. Clashes have erupted between Serbs and Kosovars since the election of Kosovar Albanian mayors in Serb-majority towns.
Novak Djokovic sparked the first controversy at the Roland-Garros tennis tournament: “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia! Stop the violence”, this is the message he wrote on the camera when leaving the Philippe Chatrier court on Monday 29 May. The Serbian tennis player speaks in this way as tensions have been gaining in intensity since April in this small Balkan country.
An election set fire to the powder: the municipal ones. The Serbs boycotted them following the call of Srpska Lista, the main Serbian party in Kosovo closely linked to Belgrade. Albanian elected officials were then elected in predominantly Serbian towns with participation rates not exceeding 3.5% according to France 24.
These new city councilors were officially sworn in last week, which triggered spectacular Serb protests. Rallies outside the town halls of the four major Serb-majority cities degenerated. The UN intervened via NATO: the forces of this military alliance then separated the two belligerents. The violence then escalated with protesters throwing stones, bottles and Molotov cocktails.
30 soldiers were injured in the clashes, KFOR (International Force in Kosovo led by the Atlantic Alliance) said on Twitter. The statement even claims that “three Hungarian soldiers were injured by firearms”. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic mourned the injuries of 52 Serb protesters, three of them seriously.
These elections took place in a particular context: in November 2022, Serbs employed in the Kosovo administration mostly all resigned. They then challenged a decision by the government in Pristina aimed at prohibiting Serbs living in Kosovo from using Serbian license plates on Kosovo territory.
According to Alexis Troude, professor of geopolitics at the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) and specialist in the Balkans, explains it to France 24: “Every time, it’s the same blow: the Kosovo multiplies the vexations against the Serbs. Pristina has never respected the 2013 agreements and regularly tries to establish its authority over northern Kosovo, causing tensions with the Serb population.” These 2013 agreements were to set in stone the creation of an association of ten Serbian-majority municipalities. But Kosovo did not respect its commitments for fear of seeing Serbia take possession of these territories.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken blamed Albin Kurti, Prime Minister of Kosovo, for the decisions that caused the friction: “He greatly and unnecessarily escalated the tensions.” The United States also excluded the country from Defender 23, a joint military exercise program between 20 Western allies.
NATO has been present in Kosovo since 1999 to manage a peacekeeping mission. This military presence had intervened in the middle of the war having cost the lives of nearly 13,000 people. Kosovo then officially declared its independence in 2008, which Belgrade still refuses to recognize. This is neither recognized by the UN nor by the European Union even if the United States and its Western allies, such as France, recognize the country.
The country is 90% populated by Muslim Albanians and 10% by Orthodox Serbs according to the JDD. The region has been affected by ethnic and religious conflicts since the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992. Serbia does not recognize its independence, as this region is considered the national and religious cradle of the Serbs.
Moscow and Washington are once again opposed on this file: the Russians support the Serbs and the Americans support the Kosovars. Balkan specialist Alexis Troude believes that: “These tensions will eventually lead to war in Europe. The great powers have been igniting local rivalries for 20 years and playing with fire. On the one hand, the United States reinforce the authority of Pristina, on the other, Russia supports Belgrade. Europe must wake up to avoid the worst.”
