Kosovo Serbs question security build-up

Kosovo Serbs question security build-up

Tensions are running high in northern Kosovo after a bomb went off on August 27 in the Dolce Vita café, a popular hang-out for Serbs in divided Mitrovica.

Local Serbs say if the international police were serious about protecting them, the bombing, which injured nine people, would not have happened in the first place.

Serbs nerves are on edge over the likely outcome of status talks on the future of the bitterly disputed territory.

In 1999, UN Security Council Resolution 1244 declared Kosovo a UN protectorate, although it formally remained a part of Serbia.

The majority Albanian population insists on an independent state, while Belgrade and most Kosovo Serbs staunchly oppose the idea.

Talks on Kosovo's final status started in February in Vienna but have yielded no results.

While the representatives of Pristina and Belgrade are at loggerheads, the mediators in the process - the UN and the so-called Contact Group of countries the Balkans - insist negotiations must wrap up this year.

The Contact Group has already established ten principles for Kosovo`s future status. Among them are the decrees that Kosovo will not be divided, will not unite with any other country and will never return to the status it held before 1999.

Serbia fears the international community may then impose its own solution, which will involve some form of independent statehood for Kosovo.

The UN's human rights arm, UNHCR, supports the claim of official sources in Serbia and Montenegro that around 223,000 Serbs, Montenegrins, Roma and other minorities have fled Kosovo since 1999.

Serbs remaining in Kosovo, meanwhile, have been on the receiving end of frequent attacks by Albanians who especially target the isolated enclaves Serb south of the Ibar River, which runs through Mitrovica.

Nor has the mainly Serb north of Kosovo escaped attack. Early in July a Serb youth, Miljan Veskovic, was murdered in Zvečan, in northern Kosovo.

In protest, three northern Serb municipalities suspended all cooperation with Albanian controlled institutions in the Kosovo capital, Priština.

The international forces in Kosovo, known as KFOR, have now established a military base in the northern town of Leposavić, deploying about 300 soldiers. The UN administration, meanwhile, is planning to send an additional 500 international police to the area.

UNMIK police commissioner Vein Hissong said on August 9 that the extra police were coming at the request of the local Serb authorities.

A KFOR representative, Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Fayet, said the two companies of a German battalion, now stationed near Leposavić, would remain till the end of September when units from other tactical KFOR forces will replace them.

Fayet told Balkan Insight that the beefed-up military presence was meant to "reassure and calm down the local population".

But Slaviša Ristić, mayor of Zubin Potok, a municipality in northern Kosovo, told Balkan Insight that Serbs suspected the real intention was to prevent the area from uniting with Serbia. "Otherwise, I see no reason to beef up the presence of police forces," said Ristić.

Some Albanians agree. A local political analyst, Nedzmedin Spahiu, told Balkan Insight he also thought the increased presence signalled the international community's determination to prevent Kosovo's partition.

"The Serbian government wants the partition of Kosovo, and this move on the part of the international community is intended to preclude such a development," said Spahiu.

Živojin Rakočević, a Kosovo Serb media editor from Gračanica, in central Kosovo, said the move was a warning to officials from Priština and Belgrade who have discussed the possibility of partition.

"This is why the international community has strengthened its presence, sending a clear message that the partition is not a viable option - for the time being," said Rakočević.

The local Serbs share the views of the analysts and Serb representatives. Most are suspicious of the international community's intentions, pointing out that incidents have continued to occur, despite the increased international presence. The bombing on August 27 in Mitrovica bolstered their suspicions.

"I used to think safety concerns were the reason to increase the international military and police presence here, but after this incident in Mitrovica I doubt it," said law student Jelena Dabetić from Mitrovica.

She said the UNMIK police were probably preparing for "something much bigger and more sinister", meaning the imposition of Kosovo's final status as an independent state.

Nebojša Marković, another Serb from Mitrovica, agreed. "They are not here to protect us but the administrative border with Serbia," he said, referring to the international forces, "since the international community fears the Serb reaction in case Kosovo's independence is declared".

Marković said the UN police was acting under pressure of the Albanians, who insist on creating their own state.

However, Larry Miller, Mitrovica region's police press officer, said such talk was nonsense.

"The increased presence of international officers in the Northern Mitrovica region is to provide security for all citizens and ensure that rule of law prevails," he said.

"These officers have been assigned to Mitrovica, partially in response to requests from local political leaders for increase security.

"Everything else would be pure speculation."

Zeljko Tvrdisic is the editor-in-chief of Kontakt Plus Radio in Kosovska Mitrovica and Kosovo correspondent of Tanjug press agency. Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication.