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Although it has been a sovereign state since February 2008, Kosovo remains a divided nation and an issue that continues to divide the world. The troubles at the Jarinje border crossing, which led to the death of a policeman on 26 July are a case in point. Two years after its decalaration of independence, Kosovo is still stricken by conflict, in spite of the massive presence of a NATO peacekeeping force and EU advisers.
In Kosovo, the Serbian minority does not recognise the political authority of the government in Pristina. The Serbs who represent 8% of the population, are mainly concentrated in autonomous communities close to Mitrovica in the North, and in the Štrpce enclave in the South. They have their own economy, which is based on trade (smuggling) and on the Serbian dinar, while the majority Kosovar Albanian community uses the euro. The Serbian minority has the support of nationalist movements in Serbia, which have refused to accept the status quo.
The Kosovar government wants to impose its jurisdiction on the country’s borders. No country can be expected to tolerate trafficking in large areas of its territory. It follows that the police intervention in Jarinje was justified. By the same token, Pristina cannot be expected to stand idly by while its forces are driven out by Kosovar Serbs. As it stands, calm appears to have been restored by the deployment of patrols in the area by NATO’s KFOR peacekeeping force, but tensions continue to run high.
Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci certainly has his reasons when he claims that parallel Serb “structures” (read: remotely controlled by Belgrade) played a part in the violence at the crossing. For his part, Serbian President Boris Tadic did attempted to diffuse the conflict when he described the attack on the border post in Jarinje as the work of “vandals” intent on undermining the cause of bi-lateral dialogue.
Commerce remains the most effective remedy
The president was doing his best to downplay the border incident, but he knows that his enjoys limited authority over ethnic Serbs who perceive him to be a politician eager to grant all kinds of concessions to earn the good graces of the EU. As a result, he is walking on eggs.
This is the reason why Serbia has requested that Russia raise the issue at the UN Security Council. Russia – along with Spain and four other members of the EU [Slovakia, Romania, Cyprus and Greece] – is one of the 77 countries in the world which have yet to recognise Kosovo. That is also the reason why the EU, which described the violence at Jarinje as “unacceptable,” is trying to organise talks as quickly as possible.
Negotiation remains the only possible solution. We cannot expect Serbia to turn around and formally recognise Kosovo. The wound to its pride has not had enough time to heal. However, we should expect Belgrade to authorise trade with Kosovo, and we should expect Pristina to avoid pouring petrol on the flames.
Trade is in everyone’s interest, because commerce remains the most effective remedy in the bid to restore normal bi-lateral relations.
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