Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo it broke out again this weekend after Kosovo police raided Serb-held areas in the north of the region and seized local municipal buildings.
Violent clashes between Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeeping forces on one side and local Serbs on the other have left several people injured on both sides.
The situation has once again fueled fears of a resumption of the 1998-1999 conflict in Kosovo that claimed more than 10,000 lives and left more than a million homeless.
Why are Serbia and Kosovo at odds?
Kosovo is a mainly ethnic Albanian populated territory that was formerly a province of Serbia. It declared independence in 2008.
Serbia has refused to recognize Kosovo’s statehood and still considers it part of Serbia, although it has no formal control there.
Kosovo’s independence has been recognized by about 100 countriesincluding the United States.
Russia, China and five European Union nations have sided with Serbia. The stalemate has kept tensions at a simmer and prevented the full stabilization of the Balkan region after the bloody wars of the 1990s.
What is the latest outbreak about?
After Serbs boycotted last month’s local elections held in northern Kosovo, where Serbs make up a majority, newly elected ethnic Albanian mayors moved into their offices with the help of Kosovo riot police last Friday. .
The Serbs tried to stop them from taking over the premises, but the police fired tear gas to disperse them.
On Monday, Serbs held a protest in front of the municipal buildings, sparking a tense standoff that resulted in fierce clashes between Serbs and Kosovo peacekeepers and local police.
How deep is the ethnic conflict in Kosovo?
The dispute over Kosovo is centuries old. Serbia cherishes the region as the heart of its state and religion.
Numerous medieval Serbian Orthodox Christian monasteries are located in Kosovo. Serbian nationalists see a 1389 battle against the Ottoman Turks as a symbol of their national struggle.
The majority of Kosovo Albanians view Kosovo as their country and accuse Serbia of occupation and repression. Ethnic Albanian rebels launched a rebellion in 1998 to rid the country of Serb rule.
Belgrade’s brutal response prompted a NATO intervention in 1999, forcing Serbia to withdraw and cede control to international peacekeepers.
What is the situation locally?
There are ongoing tensions between the Kosovo government and the Serbs who live mainly in the north of the country and have close ties to Belgrade.
Attempts by the central government to impose greater control in the Serb-dominated north are generally met with resistance from the Serbs.
Mitrovica, the main city in the north, has been effectively divided into an ethnic Albanian part and a Serb-controlled part, with the two parts rarely mixing. There are also smaller Serb-populated enclaves in southern Kosovo, while tens of thousands of Kosovar Serbs live in central Serbia, where they fled with Serb troops that withdrew in 1999.
Have there been attempts to resolve the dispute?
There have been constant international efforts to find common ground, but so far there has been no final agreement.
EU officials have mediated negotiations designed to normalize relations between the two. Numerous agreements have been reached during the negotiations, but they have rarely been implemented on the ground. Some areas have seen results, such as the introduction of freedom of movement within the country.
The idea of border changes and land swaps was floated as the way forward, but many EU countries rejected it fearing it could cause a chain reaction in other ethnically mixed areas in the Balkans and trigger more trouble in the region. after the wars of the 90s.
Who are the main players?
Both Kosovo and Serbia are led by nationalist leaders who have shown no willingness to compromise.
In Kosovo, Albin Kurti, a former leader of the student protest and a political prisoner in Serbia, leads the government and is the main negotiator in EU mediated talks. He was also known as a fierce supporter of Kosovo’s unification with Albania and is against any compromise with Serbia.
Serbia is led by populist President Aleksandar Vucic, who was information minister during the war in Kosovo. The ex-ultranationalist insists that any solution must be a compromise to last and says the country will not settle unless it wins something.
What happens next?
International officials hope to speed up negotiations and reach a solution in the coming months.
Any Serbian military intervention in Kosovo would mean a confrontation with the NATO peacekeepers stationed there. Belgrade controls the Kosovo Serbs, and Kosovo cannot become a member of the United Nations and a functional state without resolving the dispute with Serbia.