Unrest between Serbia and Kosovo may escalate into a broader conflict should the neighboring nations fail to resolve their disputes soon, according to US and European Union mediators.
(Bloomberg) — Unrest between Serbia and Kosovo may escalate into a broader conflict should the neighboring nations fail to resolve their disputes soon, according to US and European Union mediators.
Dozens of people were injured in the worst violence in a decade last month over control of municipalities in Serb-majority towns in Kosovo, which split from Serbia in 2008. Tensions have persisted as Kosovo strengthened control over the frontier between the countries amid a row over a border incursion.
“I’m very worried,” Gabriel Escobar, the US special representative to the western Balkans, told an online conference Tuesday. “This has the potential to become a regional conflict, a regional confrontation.”
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic have been invited for a new round of EU-brokered negotiations in Brussels.
But the Serbian leader says he won’t attend until detained Serbs are released and Kosovo scales back police presence in the Serb-majority municipalities. Kosovo insists on the immediate release of three police officers detained by its northern neighbor for allegedly entering Serbian territory.
A solution needs to be found by the end of the year, before the US presidential vote in 2024 and elections in Europe divert attention, according to EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak.
The situation is “very difficult” and without de-escalation, there will be casualties, he said.
“We either have agreed solutions or we have confrontation and unilateral actions from both sides,” Lajcak said. “In that case we are heading toward serious, serious escalations and violence.”
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