Why do Kosovo-Serbia tensions persist?
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00:00 Everything broke out Monday as angry Serbian demonstrators demanded the removal of recently
00:04 elected ethnic Albanian mayors.
00:07 Some 50 Serbs were hurt as well.
00:09 And for more on this, I'm joined by our international affairs editor, Philip Turrell.
00:13 So Philip, help us understand what's behind these tensions.
00:16 Well, this all goes back to elections that were held earlier this year.
00:22 After last November, the Serbian political representatives in northern Kosovo stood down
00:29 from their posts.
00:30 There have been anticipated elections taking place last month, and this is when the new
00:35 mayors were due to take up their places.
00:37 The problem is that the ethnic Serbians in that area, about 120,000 Serbians living in
00:44 Kosovo refused to take part in the poll.
00:47 So you had a very, very small turnout instead of 45,000 people voting, which was the normal
00:54 number of ballots that should have been cast.
00:56 It was only about 1,500, which brought in this group of ethnic Albanian mayors, which
01:02 have been rejected basically by the Serbians living in the area.
01:07 That is why they've been causing this trouble, saying that they do not want their area to
01:11 be controlled by a group of ethnic Serbian mayors when the majority of the population
01:16 is Serbian.
01:18 And that is why they are refusing.
01:20 They refuse, first of all, to take part in the elections, and secondly, why they are
01:24 refusing now to accept the fact that these mayors have taken up their posts and why we're
01:28 seeing this violence that has been taking place over the past 24 hours.
01:33 Three areas of northern Kosovo are affected by this.
01:36 This is all part of a long-going standoff between the Serbians who reject the idea,
01:42 living in Kosovo, that they are not part of Serbia next door.
01:46 Since Kosovo was given independence back in 2008, they say that this is still part of
01:52 Grand Serbia, and therefore there's no reason why the ethnic Albanian population, which
01:57 is predominant in the rest of Kosovo, should be in charge of this area of the north of
02:02 Kosovo, which is more majority Serbian.
02:06 What can the international community do here?
02:08 Well, we already have the UN forces in Kosovo who are there to maintain peace, the KFOR
02:16 UN peacekeepers.
02:19 What is a bit worrying here, Monty, is that we are seeing an upping of the ante on both
02:24 sides.
02:26 The Serbians have said they are increasing the number of troops along the two countries'
02:30 common border on the Serbian side to prevent flare-up of violence.
02:35 And we've also seen an announcement by the authorities in Pristina in Kosovo saying that
02:43 they are going to send in their own police forces into the area.
02:47 I think the main concern from the international community is that this could flare up at a
02:51 time of international stress as far as the war in Ukraine is concerned.
02:58 They're very keen to avoid any kind of more conflict on the European continent right now.
03:03 So the reaction from, for example, the Italians has been pretty quick because Italian peacekeepers
03:08 were injured in these attacks, from Giorgio Maloney, who's called for a calming of the
03:12 situation, and for everybody to get round the negotiating table.
03:16 And that's been the same message coming out of the French foreign ministry here in Paris,
03:19 saying that it is absolutely urgent that talks begin again on the UN peacekeeping mission
03:27 to keep the peace in northern Kosovo, so that it doesn't all flare out of control.
03:34 I think there is a chance that this could calm down, but it shows that the ethnicity
03:39 is still a big division between those who would like Kosovo to become part of Serbia
03:47 and reject the independence of 2008, whereas Serbia itself has accepted certain areas that
03:54 could be introduced, such as the recognition of passports, for example, from Kosovo, the
04:01 fact that Kosovo could join international organizations.
04:04 Even though it doesn't recognize the independence of Kosovo, it has opened the door to Kosovo
04:07 having some kind of independent situation in the world.
04:12 So pressure from the international community.
04:14 We'll see how far that can go in trying to calm this situation.
04:17 Okay.
04:18 International Affairs Editor Philip Turrell.
04:19 Philip, thanks as always.
04:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]