The radicalization of Serbia’s strategy in Kosovo was forewarned and announced by Serbia. In the last month, Serbia has sanctioned the burning of Kosovo’s border posts in the north, the non-cooperation of Serb police within the KPS, the occupation of the railway line that passes through the north of Kosovo, and the occupation of the UNMIK court in the north of Mitrovica. 

 Despte forwarning of the attack on the border posts, UNMIK did not reinforce the police units there. KFOR watched from a distance as the Serb officers on duty joined the protestors and the customs houses burned. Since this happened, there has been no customs control at these border points, nor has anyone been arrested for these crimes. Just a few days later, a group of Serbs from Serbia attacked with stones a small KPS detachment left to defend the border in the east at Mutivodë. Thus UNMIK immediately signalled that it was not ready to enforce Kosovo’s territorial integrity on the Kosovo-Serbia border.

Tadiç warned before the declaration of independence that Serb police who worked for the KPS would not take orders from the Kosovo institutions or the new EU mission. Hundreds have now refused to work, or have taken ‘leave’, either willingly or under threat from parallel structures. Instead of taking action to prevent this and to ensure the integrity of the police force, UNMIK has suspended these officers on full salary for a period of three months. Meanwhile, it took the EU mission just ten days to abandon their office in the north of Mitrovica.

A group of local Serbs occupied the railway station and line at Zveçan and blocked the passage of the train. UNMIK was forced to negotiate its release, but although it claims the railway has returned to its control, Serbia is continuing to run its trains on the track illegally.

Finally, on Friday 14th March, Serbs occupied the UNMIK court. Despite once again, being forewarned that this would happen, UNMIK police failed to prevent the occupation. It took UNMIK four days to decide to free the court, and this it did only because it was coming under increasing political pressure to act. UNMIK in the words of the Deputy SRSG, Larry Rossin, was ‘disinclined to permit this occupation to continue indefinitely or for very long because it was such a fundamental challenge to our exclusive executive authority in Kosovo.’ The word ‘disinclined’ means ‘reluctant’ or ‘unwilling’. A credible signal of strength, would have been instead, ‘we will not tolerate’ this occupation.

UNMIK’s pathetic inability to demonstrate its opposition to partition should not be surprising. It is the consequence of over eight years of talking about multi-ethnicity in conference rooms, whilst at the same time tolerating the parallel structures of Serbia inside Kosovo. Having failed to find the political will to dismantle these structures, UNMIK left in place the ingredients for partition, an option which it has further encouraged by its weak response to a series of carefully orchestrated attacks by Serbia. Thus it is UNMIK which has opened the door to increasing Serb radicalization. It is UNMIK which has created the conditions for Serbia to think that the use of violence will achieve soft partition. So far it has worked: there is no EU office in the north, and there are no functioning UNMIK institutions. Only KFOR remains in control in the north of Mitrovica. It took three days to return UN and KPS police.

The two faces of UNMIK

Mitrovica, March 17th 2008:

• An organized group of Serbs invaded and occupied an UNMIK institution, the court in North Mitrovica, for three days. UNMIK police did not obstruct their entry.

• When UNMIK police finally re-took the court, they were ambushed by armed Serbs who shot at them and threw grenades and Molotov cocktails, killing an UNMIK police officer, injuring 42 others and 22 KFOR soldiers. About 70 Serb protestors were harmed.

• The ambushers managed to release 21 of the arrested prisoners.

• UNMIK police and KFOR responded with tear gas and shock bombs which produce a loud noise. A few hours later, all of those arrested were released.

Prishtina, 10th February 2008:

• On 10th February 2007, VETËVENDOSJE! tried to march down the main street in Prishtina to demonstrate for self-determination.

• With only their bodies, activists tried to walk through a police cordon.

• UN police responded immediately with tear gas and rubber bullets, killing Arben Xheladini and Mon Balaj, and injuring over 80 other demonstrators.

• All the institutions praised the police action as ‘professional’ and blamed VETËVENDOSJE! claiming without foundation that activists intended to occupy the government. Albin Kurti was held in detention for over a year until the trial against him collapsed.

• It took 2 months for the special prosecutor to show that the police response had been unnecessary and avoidable, and that murder had been committed. By then, the police responsible had left. No one has been brought to justice.

No more negotiations!

The inevitable next step for which Serbia is hoping is the start of new negotiations. On current form, it will not be long before UNMIK and the EU comply in order to re-establish their superficial presence in Serb areas of Kosovo – a presence which it took Serbia just one month to remove. Serbia hopes to legitimize the absence of this international presence and the reality of a soft partition through the local and national elections it plans to hold inside Kosovo on 11th May. As negotiations always result in compromise, these will probably result in the Ahtisaari Plan, plus the legalization of the de facto partition created by Serbia on the ground.

Meanwhile, Kosovo is being forced to comply with this plan by legislating for the Ahtisaari Plan in a totally undemocratic procedure which lacks any pretence at transparency, as the price for an independence which exists only in the letters of recognition sent by 28 countries. By recognizing Kosovo as independent, but at the same time, tying this recognition to the Ahtisaari Plan, the international community sent a clear signal to Serbia that they were setting up a weak state. Second, this inability to take a firm and principled stand in support of Kosovo and to remove Resolution 1244 and thus officially end Serbia’s claim to sovereignty over Kosovo, left the door wide open for Serbia to undermine its survival, by effectively dividing the UN and the EU.