Tensions in Kosovo: barricades are cleared, skepticism remains

First steps towards de-escalation: The most important border crossing to Kosovo is open again. Serbian President Vucic had previously called for the dismantling of barricades. But the strike by Serbian officials continues.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had come to Raska, a small town in southern Serbia not far from the Kosovo border. In a barracks of the Serbian army he met with representatives of the Serbs in Kosovo.

Afterwards, Vucic announced at a press conference that the barricades will be dismantled from today – the whole thing could take a day or two.

Vucic announced this news not without his usual dramatic self-portrayal. “I’ve been in government for a little over ten years. I’ve had a lot of difficult moments that I could have written books about,” said the Serbian president. “Here I had difficult negotiations with people who I knew loved their country. And that’s the most difficult thing.”

Many Kosovo Serbs are skeptical

By her country, Vucic does not mean Kosovo, but Serbia, because most Serbs from the rebellious north of Kosovo do not recognize their country’s independence from Serbia – just like Vucic. And so the representatives of the Kosovo Serbs were prepared to dismantle the barricades, but they also remained skeptical.

Aleksandar Filipovic spoke up. He is one of the striking Serbian police officers and was previously the chief of operational police in northern Kosovo. “If we remove the barricades now, they will hunt us down like rabbits,” said Filipovic. “We Serbian police officers didn’t resign for fun, but because we were betrayed.” As Serbian police officers, they could not have done anything and were useless when the special forces came to northern Kosovo.

Guarantees in return for dismantling the barricades

The special forces from the Albanian-dominated south of Kosovo have arrested at least three Serbs in recent days. The arrests were the main trigger for the erection of more and more barricades. Some of them consist of several rows of buses, trucks and construction site vehicles – placed across all the important country roads in northern Kosovo, in the divided city of Mitrovica and at a border crossing. According to Serbian state television, the crossing has now been reopened. The government in Pristina closed it yesterday in response to the erection of more barricades on the Serbian side.

Vucic is said to have received guarantees from the Kosovar government, the EU and the USA for dismantling the barricades. There should be no criminal prosecution for the insurgents and individual arrested Serbs should be released.

house arrest instead of jail

An ex-policeman has apparently already been placed under house arrest and is back with his family. He is accused of having attacked polling stations in northern Kosovo as a ringleader.

Another agreement: the special forces should withdraw from the north of Kosovo. Serbian President Vucic also responded to the image that the Serbs could be hunted down like rabbits after the barricades were dismantled. “They can’t hunt you down like rabbits. If they do that, then there will be no more agreements,” the President said. “If they catch even one or two of us, the rabbits will become wolves.”

Serbian officials remain on strike

According to Vucic, the approximately 1,000 striking Serbian police officers, judges and officials from northern Kosovo are not yet to return to work. Only when the Kosovo government allows the establishment of a Serbian municipal administration will they go back to work.

The Kosovar government rejects the Serbian municipal administration because it fears that the Serbs would then gain too much power in Kosovo. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti accuses Vucic of directing the uprising of the Kosovo Serbs from Belgrade in order to intentionally destabilize the situation in Kosovo.