The main questions about the escalation in the Balkans: Can the conflict in Kosovo still be resolved?

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The spiral of escalation in Kosovo is accelerating. Serb demonstrators in northern Kosovo clashed with KFOR soldiers on Monday. The situation has not yet calmed down on Tuesday either. The demonstrations continue in the cities of Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok. The most important questions and answers about the current situation.

The Italian Ministry of Defense spoke in a statement of 14 wounded Italians from the KFOR contingent. Also among the injured were 20 Hungarian KFOR soldiers, the Budapest news portal hvg.hu wrote, citing diplomatic circles.

NATO, to which KFOR belongs, “strongly condemns the unprovoked attacks on KFOR forces in northern Kosovo,” a statement said. “Such attacks are completely unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately.”

The background to the current tensions are boycotted local elections in northern Kosovo. Early municipal elections were held in April in Zvecan and in the municipalities of Leposavic, Zubin Potok and Mitrovica. The ethnic Albanian Ilir Peci is now the mayor of Zvecan.

Because ethnic Serbs – who make up a large part of the region’s population – largely boycotted the elections, only ethnic Albanians or representatives of smaller minorities were elected with a turnout of less than 3.5 percent. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti (48) installed the mayors last week, defying demands from the EU and the US. And thereby also angered the Serb population in the region.

Kurti blames Serbia and “a bunch of extremists led by official Belgrade” for the riots. According to the Office of the President, he said this in a conversation with Western ambassadors on Monday evening. Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani (41) accused her Serbian counterpart of destabilizing Kosovo. “Those who carry out Vucic’s orders to destabilize North Kosovo must be brought to justice,” Osmani tweeted.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic (53), the commander-in-chief of the Serbian armed forces, has raised the army’s combat readiness to the highest level, said Defense Minister Milos Vucevic (48), The Guardian reports. “This means that the Chief of General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces issued additional instructions for the deployment of army units to certain, specified positions just before 2:00 pm,” Vucevic said. What exactly that means remains open. Vucic himself has not yet responded to the incidents.

Skirmishes in northern Kosovo continue on Tuesday. There are still no signs of the situation calming down. However, there has not yet been any question of an escalation in the sense of military involvement. However, neither head of state has so far called for a concrete de-escalation.

The conflict between Kosovo and Serbia goes beyond the mayoral debate. EU officials have brokered negotiations to normalize relations between the two countries. Numerous agreements were made during the negotiations, but they were rarely put into practice. The two heads of state, Vucic and Kurti, were rarely persuaded to compromise.

Source: Blick