An enduring stand-off is fueling Western Balkans instability and must be settled to help meet conditions for Kosovo's aspiration to join the European Union.
May 30 - Fifteen years after Kosovo declared independence, 50,000 minority Serbs in the north bordering Serbia refuse to recognise state institutions, receive pay and benefits from Serbia's budget and pay no taxes either to Pristina or Belgrade.has intensified more recently since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo's Serb-majority area after April elections the Serbs boycotted, a move that led the U.S. and its allies to rebuke Pristina.
Ethnic Serbs account for 5% of Kosovo's 1.8 million people, and ethnic Albanians about 90%. Serbs in north Kosovo vent their rejectionism by refusing to pay the state utility for energy they use and often attacking police who try to make arrests.Unrest in the region has intensified since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo's Serb-majority area after April elections the Serbs boycotted, a move that led the U.S. and its allies to rebuke Pristina.
On July 31, Pristina announced a two-month window for the plates to be switched over, triggering unrest, but after EU crisis mediation later agreed to push the implementation date back to the end of 2023. A local Kosovo Serb protester spray-paints an armoured car in the town of Zvecan, Kosovo, May 29, 2023. REUTERS/Laura Hasani
The alliance says it would intervene in line with its mandate if Kosovo were at risk of renewed conflict. The EU's EULEX mission, begun in 2008 to train domestic police and crack down on graft and gangsterism, retains 200 special police officers in Kosovo.U.S. and EU envoys are pressing Serbia and Kosovo to approve a plan presented in mid-2022 under which Belgrade would stop lobbying against a Kosovo seat in international organisations including the United Nations.
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Why do Kosovo-Serbia tensions persist?Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo have flared anew this weekend after Kosovo’s police raided Serb-dominated areas in the region’s north and seized local municipality buildings. There have been violent clashes between Kosovo’s police and local Serbs that have left several people injured on both sides. Serbia raised the combat readiness of its troops stationed near the border and warned that it won’t stand by if Serbs in Kosovo are attacked again. The situation has again fueled fears of a renewal of the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo that claimed more than 10,000 lives.
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Kosovo Serbs trying to take over municipality building in the north clash with policeEthnic Serbs in northern Kosovo clashed with police at a municipal building on Monday as they tried to take over one of the local communes where ethnic Albanian mayors entered last week with the help of authorities.
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30 international peacekeepers injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs in northern KosovoThe NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo has raised to 30 the number of its troops injured in fierce clashes with ethnic Serbs who tried to take over the offices of a municipality in the north. A statement on Tuesday said that 11 Italian soldiers and 19 Hungarian ones “sustained multiple injuries, including fractures and burns from improvized explosive incendiary devices.” It added that three Hungarian soldiers were “wounded by the use of firearms,” but their injuries are not life-threatening. The United States and the European Union have stepped up efforts to help solve the Kosovo-Serbia dispute, fearing further instability in Europe as Russia’s war rages in Ukraine.
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NATO deploys soldiers as Serbs gather anew in northern Kosovo after clashesNATO deploys dozens of troops in northern Kosovo town of Zvecan, where a day earlier 30 of its soldiers and 52 ethnic Serb protesters were injured in clashes
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NATO soldiers guard Kosovo towns in stand-off with Serb protestersSerbs in northern Kosovo try to take over the local government buildings as Albanian mayors were elected in recent local elections which Serbs refused to take part in.
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