What’s behind the new tensions in Kosovo?

The bridge over the Ibar River in the city of Mitrovica is the most striking symbol of the divisions between ethnic Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. North of the bridge, people speak Serbian, and the currency is Serbian dinars. In the South, residents speak Albanian and use euros.

The divisions between the two communities got worse after the April 23rd 2023 extraordinary municipal elections. Four ethnic Albanian mayors were appointed to the Northern majority-Serb areas after Serbs boycotted the polls.

Tensions came to a head in May, when Kosovo’s Albanian central government decided to install the elected mayors by force. In the town of Zvecan, Serb protesters tried to block officials from entering municipal buildings. The clashes with KFOR NATO-led peacekeeping troops left forty soldiers and over fifty Serb protesters injured.

This led to fears of a fresh flare-up in the conflict for Kosovan independence that was ended by NATO in 1999. Kosovo - which was an autonomous province of Serbia in the former Yugoslavia - declared its independence in 2008. The new country is recognized by over one hundred countries, but not Serbia. Serbia has made it clear that it will never give up on Kosovo.

The Serb activist Milica Andric Rakic thinks relations between Serb and Albanian communities in Kosovo are at their worst in the past decade. I asked her why it has come to this.

“A part of it is the unwillingness of Kosovo and Serbia to engage constructively in dialogue and implement agreements as they were foreseen for the Serbian community. One of the most important ones is the Association of Serb Municipalities, reached ten years ago and never implemented.”

The Community of Serb Municipalities would ensure a level of self-management for