Kosovo Serbs vs Belgrade

As Serb leaders from northern Kosovo openly stand up to the Serbian government, protesting what they consider ‘treachery,’ the conflict between influential northern Kosovo Serb leaders and Serbian moderate authorities threatens to escalate, Igor Jovanovic writes for ISN Security Watch.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008 and has so far been recognized by 62 states, including the US and 22 of the 27 EU member states.

A third of approximately 130,000 Serbs left in Kosovo since the arrival of international forces in 1999 live in the north. However, that region borders Serbia, and a portion of it is populated only by Serbs. The government of Kosovo has never managed to fully control that territory.

In northern Kosovo municipalities, in which the Serbs boycott every Kosovo election and vote only in elections organized by Serbia, the majority are largely representatives of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), led by former Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica and the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), still led by indicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj.

In Serbia, those parties are the opposition to the government headed by Serbian President Boris Tadic’s Democratic Party (DS). They fiercely criticizes Tadic’s government for its Kosovo policy, berating it for inviting the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), which in the opposition’s opinion, plays a part in establishing the institutions of independent Kosovo.

Open hostility

The conflict between the northern Kosovo Serb leaders and the Serbian government has, over the past few months, metamorphosed from a low-level dispute into open hostility.

On 2 July, the government dismissed Marko Jaksic, one of Kostunica’s aides, from the post of chief of the health center in Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo. Subsequently, the government also disbanded the municipal assembly in the town of Leposavic, in the far north of Kosovo, claiming that the government composed of the SRS and DSS had carried out illegal operations.
 
For their part, the northern Kosovo leaders have accused the authorities in Belgrade of leading a “treacherous policy” on Kosovo, aiding EULEX in setting up customs checkpoints on the border with Serbia and removing all political opponents. The conflict escalated after EULEX began tightening control at customs checkpoints between Kosovo and Serbia in March, claiming that northern Kosovo was a center for smuggling operations.

Immediately after Pristina declared independence, Kosovo Serbs torched two customs checkpoints in northern Kosovo, saying they would not allow the introduction of customs on the border with Serbia. Following EULEX’s March move to tighten border controls, the Serbs asked Belgrade for help, claiming that the introduction of customs checkpoints formed an official border of the independent state of Kosovo with Serbia.

In response to the EU measures, leaders of the Leposavic municipality blocked local roads and EULEX vehicles. Belgrade criticized the action, saying it would not benefit Serb interests, which caused several incidents in which local Serbs attacked Serbian government officials.

Soon afterwards, the government moved to disband the municipal assembly in Leposavic, saying that the local government had not passed the budget in a legal manner. The dismissed leaders shrugged off the accusations and announced they would appeal the decision before the Serbian Constitutional Court.

Jaksic also said he had been dismissed without any reason or clear explanation. “I am a member and senior official of the Democratic Party of Serbia […]. I assume the foreigners have been putting a lot of pressure on the government to, as they put it, dismiss those so-called extreme Serbs, and I think that is the essence of political events around my dismissal,” Jaksic told Belgrade media.

“The current Serbian government is trying to destroy everything the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija have managed to create in an unequal fight over the past 10 years,” read an August press release from representatives of Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo, adding that the government is doing everything “to get the remaining Serbs to move out.”

However, Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic denies the accusations. He described Jaksic’s dismissal and the disbanding of the Leposavic assembly as “sanctioning all those who do poor work, break the law and violate the Constitution.”

“We cannot allow laws to be broken or individuals to create their own little territories,” Bogdanovic told ISN Security Watch.

New conflict dimension

A new dimension of the conflict between Belgrade and northern Kosovo arose following the European Commission’s decision on 14 July to grant citizens of Serbia visa-free travel within the EU as of January 2010 - with the exception of those living in Kosovo, as Belgrade has no control there.

Milan Ivanovic, an influential Kosovo Serb leader, called Belgrade’s consent to that visa-liberalization policy was called “disastrous.”

“Belgrade has agreed to give up a portion of its territory in exchange for visas. The European Commission’s decision should have been rejected, because it practically introduced borders between Kosovo and Serbia. According to the Serbian Constitution, all citizens are equal, regardless of where they live, and this decision discriminates against the Kosovo Serbs,” Ivanovic told ISN Security Watch.

Bogdanovic, whose family lives in Kosovo, said that he was personally affected by the European Commission’s decision, but added that did not mean Serbia was giving up on Kosovo.

“This has affected all of us, but we have to respect the EU’s opinion. We who live in Kosovo and Metohija do not want the rest of Serbia to suffer because of us, but that does not mean Serbia will not fight for putting the Kosovo Serbs and Albanians on the white Schengen list as well,” Bogdanovic told ISN Security Watch. (Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina were left out of the visa-liberalization policy).

At the same time, northern Kosovo leaders on 21 August announced they would demand EULEX’s withdrawal from Kosovo because the mission was “creating an Albanian state there.”

“We expect Belgrade to support us, unless it plans to build a new Albanian state with them in Kosovo and Metohija,” Jaksic said in a statement.

‘Conceptual’ politics

Belgrade analyst Dusan Janjic believes this conflict between Belgrade and northern Kosovo is harmful to Serbia’s interests, but also very frustrating for the Kosovo Serbs.

However, he says the conflict, for now, is being played out “more at the level of parties than at the level of concept.”

“I think that certain Democratic Party officials agree with what some of the northern Kosovo Serb leaders are saying, regarding the joining of that part of Kosovo with Serbia if Belgrade is in some way forced to recognize Kosovo’s independence,” Janjic told ISN Security Watch.

According to him, disputes are especially damaging to the Serbs living south of the Ibar River, surrounded by Albanians.

“They are very confused and upset about the whole situation. On the other hand, they see Belgrade cooperating with EULEX, whereas […] the north has completely dismissed that cooperation. It is the same with NATO, which has soldiers in Kosovo within KFOR. Certain Serbs south of the Ibar are taking part in Albanian institutions, while the majority of their compatriots still refuse to do so. Meanwhile, the Serbs in enclaves surrounded by Albanians are forced to depend on EULEX, KFOR and the Albanians,” Janjic said.
 
Status quo likely outcome

But one should not expect the bickering to lead to a final clash between Belgrade and northern Mitrovica, he says.

“Although [Belgrade] has dismissed several officials and disbanded the Leposavic assembly, the majority of officials remain at their posts and at the helms of institutions funded by Serbia. Belgrade also needs the northern Kosovo officials and their extreme statements. That way it can always tell the international community: ‘See what extreme Serbs you have, that is why you definitely need this kind of government in Belgrade’,” Janjic said.

However, problems on the line between Belgrade and northern Kosovo will certainly continue in the coming period, during which the Serbs from northern Kosovo will collect signatures for the departure of EULEX. An election for the Leposavic assembly is also to be called soon.

Those two events will determine whether the tug-of-war between Belgrade and northern Mitrovica will result in any political preference changes among Serbs in northern Kosovo. That said, it seems that status quo is the most probable and the desirable political solution for both sides.

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