Increased tensions in North Kosovo in April

European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo offers a brief overview on how tensions increased in North Kosovo in April. The context was the coming Serb 6 May elections.

The ECMI Kosovo Newsletter of April 2012 reads:

“The situation has been tensing up in North Kosovo as the Serbian Presidential, Parliamentary and local elections approached. Serbia has been under pressure from the international community not to hold the May 6th elections in Kosovo and the Serb Minister for Kosovo, Goran Bogdanović, stated that no local elections in Kosovo would be held so as to not violate UNSC Resolution 1244 and ‘endanger those Serbs who live [in enclaves] south of the Ibar River.’

Two Serbian mayors in North Kosovo, however, declared their intention to call municipal elections, in defiance of Belgrade’s position. As for the Parliamentary and Presidential elections, the Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi said that he would allow the OSCE to facilitate voting from Kosovo for those Kosovo citizens that have double citizenship.

This month in North Mitrovica a bomb set against the Haradinaj family exploded killing one and injuring two.

Further increasing the level of tension was the fact that several Albanian Kosovars have been arrested in Serbia, while Kosovar authorities arrested several Serbs for allegedly transporting election materials into Kosovo.

KFOR announced it would bolster its presence in North Kosovo to appease the rising tensions with the upcoming elections.”

More political developments

Read further about new laws passed by the Kosovo assembly, the war crime acquittal of Democratic Party Vice President Limaj, and of the visa liberalization roadmap in the ECMI Kosovo Newsletter of April 2012.