EU-brokered deal leaves Kosovo and Serbia mired in antagonism

A swish bridge spans the Ibar river that divides the Kosovo city of Mitrovica close to the Serbian border, the place ethnic Serbs and Albanians have lived for hundreds of years. However its walkways, cycle paths and automotive lanes are empty; concrete slabs and worldwide peacekeepers block most site visitors.

The city has been segregated since a bloody struggle in 1999, which resulted in a Nato bombing of Belgrade as 1000’s of Albanians had been killed or chased from their properties by Serb paramilitaries, and even at present few locals enterprise throughout the bridge between their communities. The ethnic Serbs reside on the north facet of the river, the Albanians on the south.

Kosovo’s Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a transfer recognised by nearly 100 nations however rejected by Belgrade and native Serbs, 1000’s of whom nonetheless use Serbian ID playing cards and drive vehicles with Serbian licence plates.

After months of heightened border tensions, Kosovo and Serbia agreed final month to ease journey restrictions between their nations. However regardless of the EU-brokered deal to permit document-free journey, the antagonism between the Balkan neighbours is just not over, hampering their ambitions to join the EU.

Plator Avdiu, researcher on the Kosovar Centre for Safety Research, mentioned that whereas final month’s settlement soothed tensions, its scope was restricted and the rhetoric from Serbia meant there was little likelihood of a deal on Kosovo’s standing as a rustic.

“I don’t see area for a remaining settlement in a short time,” mentioned Avdiu, including that it additionally relied on worldwide mediators. “The ID deal got here fairly all of a sudden. However if you wish to be lifelike . . . there is no such thing as a assure, even when Kosovo accepts extra coverage concessions, for motion towards the popularity of Kosovo from Serbia.”

Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vučić, a former member of president Slobodan Milošević’s authorities that fought to maintain Kosovo as a part of Serbia, insisted the choice to permit Kosovars to enter Serbia with Kosovar IDs, with out entry-exit paperwork, was not a sign it recognised the nation’s independence. Earlier than the deal, the additional paperwork had been necessary.

“There may be [no] mutual recognition . . . Don’t come to Belgrade with these tales as a result of they’re meaningless,” Vučić wrote on Fb.

Whereas Belgrade continues to reject Kosovo’s independence, the peace course of stays in limbo. The EU’s assist for Ukraine in its resistance towards Russia, a standard Serbian ally, has raised additional difficulties.

In a café in Mitrovica, Miloš Damjanović, a neighborhood Serb, mentioned he was “towards any integration with Pristina. We see them as a parallel, unlawful establishment. We’re native residents of Serbia, regardless of the Brussels settlement or different agreements say.”

“After 1999 the worldwide group allowed Pristina to organise themselves,” he added. “We ought to be allowed to reorganise Serbia.”

Nato has saved 1000’s of peacekeepers in Kosovo underneath its KFOR operation, and the EU operates a rule of regulation mission, EULEX, to help the native armed forces.

Locals on either side of the ethnic divide maintain little hope for a peace settlement whereas each household nonetheless has vivid reminiscences of the struggle. However there are efforts to heal the mutual mistrust.

Kosovar Albanian Valdete Idrizi was a teen when she fled Mitrovica on one of many final buses to go away after Nato bombed Serbia in response to Belgrade’s focused killing of Kosovar Albanians. Along with her 85-year-old grandmother in tow, she walked a lot of the strategy to Montenegro.

After the struggle she returned dwelling and arrange an NGO to foster dialogue with native Serbs. In 2019 she was elected to parliament the place she served for 2 years as an MP. Now a cultural director in Mitrovica’s municipal authorities, she helped set up an artwork set up within the shallow waters of the Ibar that doubles as a gathering level for Serbs and Albanians alike.

“Individuals meet within the river, which has divided us for therefore lengthy. Serbs too are bored with being misused,” she mentioned, including that Serbian politicians had tried to encourage their Kosovo kin to divide their former province.

Some native Serbs are additionally working to calm ethnic tensions. Miodrag Milićević heads analysis group Aktiv, which advocates dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina to resolve the issues of the Serbian group, which now makes up about 5 per cent of the inhabitants in Kosovo.

“I advised either side, flip down the poisonous rhetoric, communicate to the press collectively, convey bilateral talks to Belgrade and Pristina, not Brussels — and depart the symbolism behind,” he mentioned.

Kosovo’s prime minister Albin Kurti, a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Military’s political workplace who was imprisoned by the Milošević regime, insists the talks with Serbia about normalising relations should centre on mutual recognition.

“I need to transcend disaster administration,” Kurti advised the Monetary Instances. “We want battle decision . . . a transformational logic.”

However a few of his countrymen nonetheless can not countenance any compromise.

“For those who ask me if we are able to reside collectively, we are able to’t. And Serbs don’t need to, both,” mentioned Rustem Suhodolli, a chain-smoking Albanian who was compelled to flee north Mitrovica within the struggle and now lives within the south of the town.

He’s indignant on the west’s now cautious neutrality, which seeks concessions from Pristina in addition to Belgrade. “They as soon as bombed the Serbs to avoid wasting us and now they go tender? Bullshit,” he mentioned.

Some Kosovo Serbs say they’re caught between political rivals and their wants are forgotten.

Nenad Rašić, a former Kosovar Serb politician, mentioned giving native Serbs extra rights might weaken their reliance on backing from Belgrade — which he calls an avenue of undue affect — and unlock the trail to lasting peace.

Rašić mentioned probably the most important reform can be the creation of an Affiliation of Serb Municipalities, which might give native Serbs a stronger voice in Kosovo. In 2015 either side agreed to ascertain the group however Pristina had but to make good on it, he mentioned.

Kurti, in energy since 2021, has mentioned that degree of administration would undermine the central authorities and will result in “Bosnification”, or a state of affairs much like Bosnia the place ethnically primarily based entities should co-operate and Serbs typically boycott authorities.

Former Kosovo president Atifete Jahjaga mentioned the one path to regional stability was for Belgrade to just accept its sovereignty. “Now we have had sufficient of the short-term options, sufficient of the bandages,” she mentioned.