Mon 25 Feb 2008 - Independence of Kosovo

By Mina Lazerevic, member of the Democratic Party (DS) in Serbia

The Unilateral Declaration of Independence has been adopted by the Kosovo’s Parliament last Sunday. As the people were celebrating in the streets of Pristina, in Serbia the citizens were mainly sad. Kosovo is perceived here by the majority of the people as the issue number one in Serbian’s politics (no candidate can win an election without mentioning Kosovo, which has been an issue here since the ‘80s). The independence of Kosovo, as well as the recognition of a new state by the large number of countries seems to the majority of Serbs unacceptable and truly unfair.

Even though Serbian province of Kosovo has had provisional institutions led by the Albanians (who make up the ethnic majority in Kosovo) with the help of the International Community after the NATO Intervention in the 1999 to stop the aggression of Milosevic’s regime on Kosovars, Serbs still feel it as a part of their country. It is hard to explain why this province gained independence from Serbia eight years after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic’s regime and after the democratic changes. Further more, the negotiations between the Serbian and Kosovo’s side have been undertaken and moderated by the International Community and by the UN special envoy for Kosovo. They didn’t show the results, but still there is a feeling that the negotiation process not only on Kosovo’s status but also on standards of the people that are living in the province (especially the Serbian minority) should have been continued until the compromise is achieved. The people of Serbia should not be punished because of the acts of their ex leaders, eight years after the 5th of October changes.

The main attitude towards this independence, which is in accordance with the wish of the majority of people of Kosovo, is that it hasn’t been harmonized with the international law and the state\'s territorial integrity as a supreme principle of inter-state relations. International law is flexible enough to ensure the maximum possible self-determination of nations within the borders of the given state. There is a concern that this new independent state of Kosovo (which has in the mean time become recognized by many of the Western countries) will cause chaos in international relations, and especially will open the frozen conflicts all around the world.

This international law ‘precedent’ is the main reason why a split later emerged at the Security Council, when Russia said there was no basis for changing a 1999 UN resolution 1244 which handed Kosovo to the UN, but within the Serbian territorial integrity. The UN Security Council did not achieve any conclusions one day after the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Kosovo, due to the disagreement of member states of SC on this particular issue. This opened a floor for the countries to recognize or not the newly state of Kosovo in accordance with their national interests. Logically, the governments with their own breakaway movements are refusing to recognise it. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on all sides to keep to their commitments and refrain from violence.

Unfortunately, tensions begun on the first night of celebration of independence in the northern part of Kosovo, mainly populated by Serbs, when two hand grenades were thrown at international community buildings in Kosovska Mitrovica. The incidents continued on the same night in Belgrade, where a group of hooligans threw stones and broke windows at the US Embassy and the Slovenian Embassy (Slovenia currently holds the EU Presidency). On Monday, the group of protesters demolished the border posts at Jarinje and Brnjak (northern Kosovo), manned by UN and Kosovo police.

Today, on 21 February 2008, a big protest was held on Belgrade’s main square, with the opening speeches given by the PM Vojislav Kostunica and the opposition leaders. There is a concern that some of the politicians did provoke incidents. The President of Serbia, Mr. Boris Tadic did not participate in the protest. The protest was in the beginning peaceful and gathered more than hundreds of thousands of people. Sadly, some of the angry protestors committed the same vandalisms as on Monday. Hundreds of them attacked and burnt the US Embassy. By the latest news, firemen later found an unidentified charred body inside the Embassy. The UK, Belgian, Croatian and Turkish missions were also attacked. Up to 100 people are believed to have been injured. The President demanded peace earlier today.

It is obvious that this kind of instability do not help Serbia to gain the diplomatic battle for Kosovo. The anarchy in Serbia shouldn’t be allowed. If incidents continue Serbia will ruin its hardly built image in the world.

In the following days to come we will see how this new born state of Kosovo will influence the political stability in the region but also the stability of the Serbian political scene. I believe that this new status will affect at least the relations in the coalition that forms the Serbian Government, which will be in the following days forced to decide which way it wants to go. In my opinion, integration of Serbia and the whole region in the EU is the only secure way that can provide a long-term peace and stability in the Balkans.

Posted by Mina Lazerevic on 25-02-2008 - 11:40:53