Her visit came at a perfect time: On the 2nd of March, the French court delayed the exile of the former premier from Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj. He was detained in France at the beginning of January under the basis of an Interpol arrest warrant issued by Serbia in connection with war crimes that were perpetrated during the Kosovo war. Kosovo conflict (1998-1999).
Recent events have brought back the question of war crimes and the perpetrators who were never ever prosecuted, from both sides.
The Kosovo War
From March through the end of June in 1999, NATO was involved during the war in Kosovo in Kosovo and Serbia by attacks from the air in order to stop the ethnic elimination of Kosovo’s Albanian population by Serbs.
A Kosovo Albanian man stands in the front doorway of a home that was destroyed during the conflict of 1998-1999. Hazir Reka/Reuters
But, following an intervention, others were also committed through Albanian Liberation Army Albanian Liberation Army on Serbian as well as Albanian civilians, despite the fact that this zone was under UN supervision under UNMIK. UNMIK mission, which Bernard Kouchner then headed.
The previous week, an incident, another one had ignited tensions. The train, supplied by Russia and adorned with Serbian colors and bearing the message “Kosovo is Serbia” in 21 languages, departed from Belgrade with the intention of arriving in Kosovo. The Kosovan government was furious and promised to send police in order to block the train. Serbian Premier Aleksandar Vucic ordered the train to stop prior to crossing the border.
Serbia, ahead of Montenegro, as well as Kosovo, was also included. MGA73bot2/Wikimedia
The incident led to a number of angry remarks. Vucic insists that he’d saved himself from war, which is a controversial claim in which Mogherini surprised and acknowledged his achievements. In the meantime, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic promised to send the army, as well as his children, to Kosovo in the event that Serbs of the North ever find themselves in danger.
While the rhetoric of nationalists is prominent in the region, remarks about war haven’t been seen since Milosevic’s time, which raised concerns regarding whether a fresh conflict might be in the making within the Balkans.
Agendas for national policy
This tense series of events needs to be considered in the context of conflict between international and local agendas.
The talks took place a couple of days prior to the new round of negotiations with Belgrade and Pristina within the normalization dialogue sponsored by the EU, which produced some results, such as a new phone code that is for Kosovo.
The dialogue is at an impasse over a variety of other issues, like the agreement for the establishment of the Community of Serb municipalities in the North. Recent events have allowed each side to increase its positions at home as well as towards the EU prior to the upcoming meetings in Brussels.
It is in the political leaders’ best interests to draw on nationalist discourse. In the course of the presidential campaign in Serbia in advance of elections scheduled to take place on April 2, Kosovo is seen as a potential issue for a patriot statesman. This is why the two candidates, Vucic and Nikolic, both from the same political party and are hoping to run for president, support nationalist rhetoric. Nikolic was later sacked following the fact that Vucic was named the candidate of his party.
A boy stands in front of an unpainted wall with a Serb nationalist symbol in the isolated village called Priluzja, located in Kosovo in 2008. Damir Sagolj/Reuters
However, the warmongering stances won’t cease. The media, under close control by the government, is full of plans as well as threats to war on Serbia, which are being carried out by Albanians as well as the Croats as well as the Turks, or NATO. To win at the beginning of this round, Vucic will need to be calm and confident, European and nationalist.
On the other hand, the Kosovo political situation could change drastically following the establishment of a new tribunal according to Kosovo law but based at The Hague, in charge of investigating the war crimes of previous Kosovo Liberation Army officials.
A lot of them, like Haradinaj along with President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, have been able to become the top political leaders that the West has relied on for many years. Kosovo’s political leadership needs to display the determination to resist any change from Serbia.
Kosovo is likely to apply for a fresh UNESCO application soon, following the initial application to be a part of the organization as a national member was rejected in the year 2000.
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There are tensions throughout the region. In Bosnia Bosnia, Bosniak participant in the Bosnia and Herzegovina presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic, vowed to appeal against the decision in 200the Day of the Serb Republic. While they could be seen as irresponsible, they are all extremely rational since they all serve to make political points.