Efforts to defuse Kosovo crisis intensify amid protests
International efforts to defuse a crisis in Kosovo intensified Wednesday as ethnic Serbs held more protests in a northern town where recent clashes with NATO-led peacekeepers sparked fears of renewed conflict in the troubled region.
Hundreds of Serbs repeated at a rally their demand for the withdrawal from northern Kosovo of the special police and ethnic Albanian officials who were elected to mayor’s offices in votes overwhelmingly boycotted by Serbs. The crowd then spread a huge Serbian flag outside the city hall in the town of Zvecan.
The rising tensions have fuelled concern about another war like the 1998-99 fighting in Kosovo that claimed more than 10,000 lives, left more than 1 million people homeless and resulted in a NATO peacekeeping mission that has lasted nearly a quarter of a century.
Working to avert any escalation, European Union officials met with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on the sidelines of a conference in Bratislava, Slovakia. The leaders of France and Germany announced plans to meet top Serbia and Kosovo officials on Thursday at a summit in Moldova.
“The current situation is dangerous and unsustainable,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. “We need urgent de-escalation.”
Speaking in Slovakia, Kurti flatly rejected Serb demands but left the door open for fresh local elections.
“As long as there is a violent mob outside the municipal buildings, we must have our special units,” he said. “If there would have been peaceful protests asking for early election, that would attract my attention, and perhaps I would consider that request.”
Kurti also suggested that Russia may have a hand in the latest flareup, pointing to protesters who “do graffiti with letter Z” and show admiration for “despotic” Russian President Vladimir Putin and for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is a close Serbian ally, although Belgrade populist leaders claim to be seeking European Union membership.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Moscow is monitoring the situation and supporting “all legitimate rights and interests of Kosovo Serbs.”
Wednesday’s protest in Zvecan, 45 kilometres (28 miles) north of the capital, Pristina, ended peacefully. On Monday, ethnic Serbs tried to storm municipal offices and fought with both Kosovo police and the peacekeepers, leaving 30 NATO soldiers and 50 rioters injured.
A former province of Serbia, Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence is recognized by Washington and most EU nations but not by Belgrade, Russia or China.
Serbs are a minority in Kosovo, but they constitute a majority in parts of the country’s north bordering Serbia. Many reject the Albanian-majority territory’s claim of independence.
The United States and the European Union recently stepped up efforts to solve the dispute. NATO said it will send 700 more troops to northern Kosovo to help quell violent protests after the clashes on Monday. The NATO-led peacekeeping mission known as KFOR currently consists of almost 3,800 troops.