Serb President receives death threats over Kosovo break

The President of Serbia, Boris Tedic, has received death threats a week before parliamentary elections are due to be held. The threats are believed to be in response to Kosovo’s declaring independence in February, and the lack of any military action to reclaim lost Serb territory.

The president urged Serbians to remain calm and rational, insisting that there be “no lynching atmosphere in Serbia.”

Serbia’s elections, scheduled for 11 May, were called shortly after Kosovo declared independence. The snap elections are now reflecting the bitter divisiveness halving the country, between those who were prepared to hold onto Kosovo at all costs and embrace Russia, against those who hope to join the European Union even if it means the loss of a critical portion of Serbian territory.

Divisions also exist between the current Prime Minister, Vojislav Kostunica, and the more Western-oriented president. The President had been in full support of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (see Note), and when the Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic signed it without demanding any recognition of Serbia’s claim over Kosovo, a political crisis ensued.

Kostunica, once supported by the West because of his democratic leanings and his defeat of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, has turned increasingly nationalistic, and has remained a staunch opponent of Kosovar independence. It is under his direction that all Serbian ambassadors have been immediately recalled from nations extending diplomatic recognition to the breakaway state.

Note: The Stabilisation and Association Agreement is branch of EU foreign relations which deals specifically with the nations of the Western Balkans, and includes Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. It is through this channel that EU leaders hope to encourage Balkan states to undergo solid democratisation and institutionalise democratic reforms. It is hoped that this is the first step towards EU accession for many of these states.

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UN Plans to Stay Longer in Kosovo

There appears to be a change in schedule in Pristina.

The United Nations peacekeeping force, otherwise referred to as the United Nations Mission in Kosovo or UNMIK, was scheduled to depart the newly independent nation on 15 June, when Kosovo’s independence, declared unilaterally in February, will be official.

At that point, the plans were to hand over all peacekeeping operations to the European Union, in the form of their EULEX (European Union Law and Justice Mission) team designed to encourage state-capacity building and democratisation. However, neither organization is forecasting a definitive transition on 15 June, according to BBC News.

While EU missions have already begun to enter the country, the UN is supposedly packing up. But new revelations from the UNMIK head, Joachim Roeker, said that “the mission will continue.”

This causes logistical issues for EULEX, which was due to inherit 400 UNMIK vehicles from the departing mission. It also breeds concern that the dual missions will only duplicate their programs and achieve no real progress.

There is talk of mounting tension between the West and Russia over the incoming EULEX force. The West’s presence in Russia’s “sphere of influence” sits uneasily with Russia, and Putin and Medvedev would much rather retain the UN presence in the region, if a peacekeeping force is necessary. But Western powers are eager to see EULEX assume its role in the Kosovar region.

“We want to see this as a gradual, orderly transition from the UNMIK role to the EU role unfold over the coming weeks,” said a senior State Department (U.S) official.

As the 15 June deadline approaches, concerns are mounting throughout the international community as to how Kosovo’s real break from Serbia will occur. Additional concern is expressed for the visible minority of Kosovar Serbs, who may resort to violence in northern Kosovo, in response to statements from the Serbian government that EULEX occupation is illegal.

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