US Excludes Kosovo from Military Exercise Program After Tensions Rise with Albanian Mayors in Serb Majority Towns

The United States announced on Tuesday May 30 the exclusion of the Kosovo of a program of military exercises, a first sanction after Pristina’s decision to induct Albanian mayors in towns in the North with a Serb majority, a source of renewed tension.

Western powers have called for de-escalation after violent clashes on Monday outside a town hall in which around 30 international soldiers led by theI’ll take it and around 50 demonstrators were injured.

Jeffrey Hovenier, American ambassador in Pristina, announced the exclusion of Kosovo from Defender 23, a program of joint military exercises bringing together more than 20 countries started in April, and which must extend until the end of June in Europe. “For Kosovo, this exercise is over,” Jeffrey Hovenier told reporters.

In 1999, a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian troops to withdraw from Kosovo. Since then, NATO has been carrying out a peacekeeping operation in this predominantly Albanian territory, which declared its independence in 2008 and Serbia still refuses to recognize.

In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blink once again criticized Prime Minister Albin Kurti, saying his decision on mayors had “strongly and unnecessarily aggravated tensions”. He called on “all parties to take immediate action to defuse tensions” and condemned the “unacceptable violence” against peacekeepers.

Jeffrey Hovenier has threatened to take unprecedented action to end diplomatic support for international recognition of this territory of the Balkanswhose independence remains contested by the Russiathe Chine and some European countries. “We asked Prime Minister Kurti very directly to take immediate action to achieve de-escalation in the North. He did not respond to these requests,” the ambassador said.

Very tense situation

For several days, the situation has been very tense in this region of Kosovo, where many members of the majority Serb community in four towns do not recognize the authority of Pristina.

The Serbs boycotted the April municipal elections in these localities, which resulted in the election of Albanian mayors despite the very low turnout of less than 3.5%. These city councilors were enthroned last week by the government, the Prime Minister ignoring calls for appeasement. The Serb protesters who had gathered in particular in front of the municipality of Zvecan are demanding the withdrawal of the Albanian mayors and the Kosovar police forces.

The international force led by NATO tried on Monday to separate the two parties before starting to disperse the most violent demonstrators, who responded by throwing stones, bottles and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers.

With AFP