The European Union and the US urged Kosovo and Serbia to take immediate steps to deescalate tensions amid mounting unrest in their border region.
- Northern Kosovo has been on edge since November 2022 when hundreds of ethnic Serb workers in the Kosovo police as well as judges and prosecutors walked off the job.
Background
- Kosovo won independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after a guerrilla uprising against Belgrade’s repressive rule.
- Serbia, however, still considers Kosovo to be an integral part of its territory and rejects suggestions it is whipping up tensions and conflict within its neighbour’s borders.
- Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence with the backing of the western countries, following a 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect ethnic Albanians.
- Around 50,000 ethnic Serbs living in northern Kosovo refuse to recognise the government in Pristina (capital of Kosovo) or the status of Kosovo as a separate country. They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and its government.
- Ethnic Serbs do not recognise Kosovan state institutions, and account for 5 per cent of Kosovo’s 1.8 million people.
- The Serbs have vented their hostility by refusing to pay Kosovo’s power operator for the electricity they use for example and frequently attacking police who try to make arrests. Serbia accuses Pristina of trampling on the rights of minority Serbs.
Current Trigger
- A row erupted over number plates. Kosovo demanded that ethnic Serbs should surrender the Serbian-issued vehicle licence plates that they had continued to use and replace them with “Republic of Kosovo” plates. For both sides, the symbolism was significant.
- For Kosovo, it was a matter of asserting its sovereignty. For Kosovo Serbs, number plates represented their identity. Only a handful made the swap before the deadline.
- Pristina’s plan to impose fines on the holdouts sparked mass resignation of ethnic Serbs from all of Kosovo’s national institutions. This included police, with more than 600 ethnic Serb officers handing in their badges.
