After a shootout between Serb gunmen and Kosovar police left five dead, the region is on high alert. Did Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic lose control over his own people? And what does the attack mean for dialogue between the two states?
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00:00 Northern Kosovo. On Sunday, a group of Serb gunmen in uniform barricaded themselves inside
00:06 a monastery and engaged in a shootout with members of the Kosovo police. When it was
00:11 over, one police officer and three gunmen were dead. A fourth body was found the following
00:17 day. Kosovo, along with many Western countries, called the incident a terrorist attack. For
00:23 Serbia, it was a day of silence. On Monday, several armoured vehicles belonging to the
00:28 Serbian army were seen near the border. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday evening, Serbian
00:34 President Aleksandar VuÄiÄ blamed Kosovo's Prime Minister and government, saying that
00:39 local Kosovo Serbs could take no more of Kuti's terror. VuÄiÄ condemned the killing of the
00:46 police officer, but not the clash itself.
00:48 The only culprit for all that is happening in the north of Kosovo and Metohija. The only
00:52 culprit. Unfortunately, there are a few culprits who help in this, and that is part of the
00:59 international community. That is Albin Kurti. The only culprit.
01:03 When tension arises, Serbia is usually quick to react and declare a state of emergency.
01:07 But not this time. Some say President VuÄiÄ has lost control. Some see him as the guilty
01:14 party. Rada TrajkoviÄ, a Serbian politician originally from Kosovo and a well-known opponent
01:20 of the Serbian President, doesn't believe that President VuÄiÄ knew anything about
01:25 what happened and thinks he is protecting himself.
01:28 It would be terrible to prove that Serbia was the most directly involved in something
01:35 that is increasingly defined as terrorism. Killing a police officer at work is really
01:42 something to be held accountable for. He normally separates himself from the Serbs in Kosovo
01:49 and responsibly transfers responsibility to the Serbs in the north.
01:54 Military analyst Aleksandar RadiÄ thinks that the President may have lost control of
02:01 his own people and was not completely aware of what was going on.
02:08 He obviously did not radicalize the situation this time. He is aware that the problem is
02:15 in his ranks. The fact is that he has created a delivery unit that has grown into a kind
02:22 of feud among the Serbian society. There are people who think that the topics related to
02:27 Kosovo are theirs and that they have the right to keep the information.
02:32 Bojan Elek, a political and security expert originally from northern Kosovo but now living
02:39 in the Serbian capital Belgrade, thinks that this is not good for either Serbia or President
02:46 VuÄiÄ, especially when it comes to dialogue.
02:49 Unfortunately, I think that this will not contribute to the dialogue in the part of
02:54 the dialogue that should be done on the implementation of state solutions for the survival of Serbs
02:59 and for the peace. Now the dialogue is already over a year in a crisis management mode.
03:05 All international representatives, but I suppose the pressure will be put on both sides
03:11 to come to de-escalation. This is what is being talked about the most now. I think we are
03:16 far from finding a solution as long as we deal with security situations and security problems
03:22 that we have had for a year, at least if not longer.
03:26 Serbian media reported that some of the escaped Serb gunmen were treated in a hospital in
03:32 Serbia. Kosovo has demanded that they be handed over, but it doesn't look likely that this
03:38 will happen any time soon.
03:40 Serbian media reported that some of the escaped Serb gunmen were treated in a hospital in Serbia.
03:45 Kosovo has demanded that they be handed over, but it doesn't look likely that this will