Tensions, already regular in the region, have increased with the approach of local elections in municipalities with a majority population of Serbs.
France is “very concernedby the heightened tensions in northern Kosovo and the attackunacceptableagainst EU law enforcement that occurred overnight from Saturday to Sunday, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday (December 12th). “France is very concerned about the situation in northern Kosovo and strongly condemns the unacceptable attack against the EULEX Kosovo mission as well as all acts of violence on the ground.“, reacted the Quai d’Orsay in a press release.
Tensions, already regular in the region, have increased with the approach of local elections in municipalities with a majority population of Serbs. To the point that Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani announced on Saturday a postponement to April 23 of the elections originally scheduled for December 18 and that the main Serbian party said it wanted to boycott.
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Read alsoHigh tension in northern Kosovo after attacks on police
European Union police deployed in the region as part of the EULEX mission said they were targeted by a stun grenade, which caused no injuries in its ranks. Meanwhile, hundreds of Kosovo Serbs, protesting against the arrest of a former police officer, erected barricades on a road in the north of the country on Saturday and Sunday, blocking traffic at two important border crossing points with Serbia.
Several hours after the roadblocks were put in place, police said they suffered three successive attacks with firearms on Saturday evening on one of the roads leading to the border. Paris calledurge the parties to show the greatest restraint and to demonstrate responsibility in order to reduce tensions“.
In its press release, France reiterated its support for European mediation between Serbia and Kosovo, which should make it possible to “progress towards a global agreement“and urged”both parties to re-engage in dialogue“. The former Serbian province of Kosovo, the scene of a war in the late 90s between the Yugoslav army and the Kosovar separatists in which NATO got involved, declared its independence in 2008.
This proclamation of independence was recognized by the United States and most EU countries but not by Belgrade, which encourages the Serb majority in northern Kosovo to challenge the authority of Pristina. The Serbs number around 120,000 out of a total Kosovo population of some 1.8 million people, the overwhelming majority of Albanian origin.