Serbian army placed on heightened alert, sign of growing tension with Kosovo

The situation with Kosovo is “on the brink of armed conflict”. This declaration, last week, of the Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabic, seems truer than ever when the Serbian army was placed, Monday evening, December 26, in a state of heightened alert.

“The President of Serbia [Alexandar Vucic] (…) ordered the Serbian army to be at the highest level of combat readiness, that is, at the level of the use of armed force”Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said in a statement, after recent tensions in neighboring Kosovo, where shootings and explosions took place, and where roadblocks were erected.

General Milan Mojsilovic, head of the Serbian armies, announced that he had been dispatched by President Aleksandar Vucic to the border with Kosovo. “The situation there is complicated”, he told Pink television on Sunday evening, en route to Raska, 10 kilometers from the border with Kosovo. General Mojsilovic added that it required “the presence of the army along the ‘administrative line'”a term used by the Belgrade authorities to designate the border with Kosovo.

Read also: Serbia to ask NATO for permission to deploy security forces in Kosovo

Protests against the arrest of a former Serbian policeman

He said in a statement that he had acted on the orders of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic so that “all measures are taken to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo”. »

Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said that “all units” will pass “immediately under the command of the Chief of the General Staff”. He said in a statement that he had acted on the orders of the Serbian president so that “all measures are taken to protect the Serbian people in Kosovo”. The Minister of Defense added for his part that the Head of State had ordered to reinforce the Serbian military presence – from 1,500 soldiers currently to 5,000.

Kosovo remains a hot spot in the Balkans after the 1998-1999 war, which ended with the intervention of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Belgrade does not recognize the independence proclaimed in 2008 by its former southern province, populated overwhelmingly by Albanians. Serbia encourages the 120,000 Serbs of Kosovo to challenge the local authorities, at a time when Pristina wants to establish its sovereignty over the whole territory.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Kosovo begins its long road to EU membership

Several hundred Kosovo Serbs have erected roadblocks since December 10 in northern Kosovo to protest against the arrest of a former Serbian policeman, paralyzing traffic to two border crossings with Serbia. The latter had asked NATO for authorization to deploy up to 1,000 of its soldiers in this area in order to protect the Kosovo Serbs against alleged harassment. The request was not granted.

Gunshots and “fights”

Shortly before General Mojsilovic’s departure for the border area, several Serbian media posted a video on social networks in which gunshots can be heard, claiming that it was “fights” occurred in the early evening when Kosovar forces tried to dismantle a barricade. This information was immediately denied by the Kosovo police, who said on their Facebook page that their members had not participated in any exchange of fire.

Test your general knowledge with the writing of the “World”

Discover

The media in Pristina, on the other hand, claimed that a patrol of the NATO Peacekeeping Force in Kosovo (KFOR) was in the firing zone. Kosovar Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla claimed that the KFOR patrol had been attacked. For its part, KFOR announced that it was carrying out an investigation into the shootings, “December 25, near a patrol of the NATO mission in Kosovo”. “There were no injuries or material damage”she said.

“It is important that everyone involved avoid any rhetoric or action that could cause tension and escalate the situation”KFOR also said in a statement. “We expect all actors to refrain from provocative displays of force and seek the best solution to ensure the safety and security of all communities,” she adds.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Serbia and Kosovo end license plate dispute

At the beginning of November, hundreds of Serbian police officers integrated into the Kosovo police, as well as judges, prosecutors and other officials left their posts en masse to protest against a decision, now suspended, of the Pristina government to ban Serbs who live in Kosovo to use license plates issued by Belgrade.

Le Monde with AP and AFP

source site