2008 unrest in Kosovo - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 2008 unrest in Kosovo follows Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

's declaration of independence

2008 Kosovo declaration of independence

The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence was adopted on 17 February 2008 by individual members of the Assembly of Kosovo acting in personal capacity and not binding to the Assembly itself...

on February 17, 2008. Some Kosovo Serbs opposed to secession have boycotted the move by refusing to follow orders from the central government in Pristina and attempting to seize infrastructure and border posts in Serb-populated regions. There have also been sporadic instances of violence against international institutions and governmental institutions, predominantly in Northern Kosovo.

Tensions in the North intensified when Serbs in Mitrovica forcibly seized a UN courthouse on March 14, 2008. UN police and NATO forces responded on March 17, and attacks by Serb protesters left one UN police officer dead and as many as 150 people wounded. On June 28, Kosovan Serbs formed the Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija

Community Assembly of Kosovo and Metohija

The Assembly of the Community of Municipalities of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija , is the assembly of the association of local governments created by the municipal authorities in Kosovo elected in the May 11, 2008 municipal elections called by the Government of Serbia...

to coordinate resistance to the Kosovan government.

Boycott of Kosovo government

Kosovo Serbs have said they intend to form parallel institutions and assert control over infrastructure and institutions in their area in response to Kosovo's declaration of independence. After local elections in May, Kosovo Serb leaders have said they intend to form a Kosovo Serb Assembly. The Serbian Orthodox Church

Serbian Orthodox Church

The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...

in Kosovo said they would not be in contact with Kosovo's Albanian government, EULEX

European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo

The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX Kosovo, is a deployment of European Union police and civilian resources to Kosovo...

, or any country which recognizes Kosovo's independence, threatening to sanction any clergy who do so.

A Serb minister said Serbia planned to have its "own police" in Serb areas as part of an action plan to maintain Serbia's presence in Kosovo. In Northern Kosovo Serb security forces have stopped taking orders from the government in Pristina and are under the command of UNMIK

United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo

The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo or UNMIK is the interim civilian administration in Kosovo, under the authority of the United Nations. The mission was established on 10 June 1999 by Security Council Resolution 1244...

. In the eastern Gnjilane region around 100 Serb officers were suspended from the Kosovo Police Service

Kosovo Police Service

Kosovo Police is the police law enforcement agency of the Republic of Kosovo.It was created in 1999 in the aftermath of the Kosovo War and subsequent withdrawal of the Yugoslav armed forces from Kosovo....

. Stanko Jakovljevic, Serb mayor of the southern Kosovo region of Štrpce

Štrpce

Štrpce is a town and municipality in the District of Uroševac, Kosovo and Metohija.According to the 1991 census, the municipality of Štrpce had a population of around 12,800 people...

said Serb police "will do today what Serbs ... did in northern Kosovo. They will only recognise orders from international police." In central Kosovo 126 Serb police officers have withdrawn from the Kosovo Police Service refusing to take commands from the central government. Members of the Kosovo Police Service said Serb officers were being intimidated to get them to leave the police force.

On March 3, 2008, Serbian railway workers declared they no longer worked for Kosovo after blocking the passage of freight trains from central to northern Kosovo. The head of Serbia's state railroad company Serbian Railways said Serbia was "taking over its responsibilities after nine years" and that the northern part of the railway would be integrated into Serbia's railway system. On March 5, 2008 UNMIK forces said they reclaimed the railway after blocking the entry of Serbian trains into Northern Kosovo warning that any movement of trains south would "not be tolerated". The next day UNMIK officials met with officials from Serbian Railways in Belgrade to discuss the company's demands to run railways in northern Kosovo. The Managing Director of Serbian Railways Milanko Šarančić said there was no chance of UNMIK running traffic in the north of Kosovo as employees of Serbian Railways terminated their contracts with UNMIK railways. He also said that the company had begun checking lines in the north, as “UNMIK has not maintained the lines properly for nine years.“

Serb protestors have blocked Albanians from working at the northern Kosovska Mitrovica

Kosovska Mitrovica

Kosovska Mitrovica , is a city and municipality in northern Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous district....

's courts, and Serb judges and court employees have demanded that they be allowed to work at the courts instead.

Attacks on Kosovo border posts

On Tuesday February 19, 2008 2,000 Serb protestors, some driving bulldozers, set two border posts on fire along the Kosovo–Serbia border. The destruction of the border posts was sparked by reports Kosovo Albanian customs officials were planning to man the borders. UN peacekeepers stationed at the checkpoints were forced to abandon the posts until they were reopened the following day. Attacks at the Mutivoda crossing point on Monday February 25, 2008 by 100 Serbs injured 19 members of the Kosovo Police Service and forced the post to be closed until the next day.

Attacks on the international presence and Kosovo institutions

The day after Kosovo's declaration of independence two bombs in the flashpoint town of Kosovska Mitrovica damaged several UN vehicles, though there were no injuries. After several attacks in northern Kosovska Mitrovica an advance team of the EU administrative force withdrew over security concerns. On March 3, 2008, a sniper fired two bullets at a UN office in the northern half of Kosovska Mitrovica without any injuries reported.

On March 28, 2008, a police checkpoint manned by Serb officers came under fire in northern Kosovo apparently from a semi-automatic weapon fired from the ethnic Albanian village of Košutovo, north of the town of Kosovska Mitrovica and the officers returned fire. No injuries were reported.

One June 26, 2008, in the village of Borivojce near the eastern town of Kosovska Kamenica members of the local Serb and Roma community barricaded a road to protest the construction of a mosque authorized by the local government. According to a police statement Serb inhabitants put rocks on the road. Around 100 members of the Albanian community who were facing them on the other side of the barricade, started to remove the rocks, and the Albanians then threw stones at them. The statement say the police then intervened to separate the groups. The police said one Kosovo Serb and a police officer were injured in the violence.

Seizure of UN courthouse in Kosovska Mitrovica

On March 14, 2008, after staging rallies for several weeks that prevented ethnic Albanian court employees from entering a UN courthouse in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, hundreds of Kosovo Serbs broke into the building in the Serb-dominated part of the city, forcing UN police to retreat. UN officials' negotiations with the Serbs to end the occupation were unsuccessful, and on March 17 UN police with the assistance of NATO-led KFOR forces entered the courthouse in a pre-dawn raid. When they arrived they were pelted with stones by around 100 Serbs. When they came out after arresting 53 of the protesters inside the courthouse they were attacked with gunfire, grenades and rocks by several hundred protesters who had massed outside. About half of the protesters who had been arrested were freed by fellow protesters during the clashes with the rest being released by the UN after questioning.

The clashes lasted until around noon. One Ukrainian police officer was killed, 70 Serbs and 61 UN and NATO peacekeepers were wounded, and one UN vehicle and one NATO truck were set ablaze. Among the wounded international troops were 27 Polish and 14 Ukrainian police officers and 20 French soldiers. UN police withdrew from northern Kosovska Mitrovica, leaving the area under the control of the NATO forces.

Gen. John Craddock, NATO's top commander, said that after speaking with NATO commanders in Kosovo that NATO did not feel it necessary to send reinforcements to Kosovo. On 19 March, UN police began to patrol parts of north Kosovska Mitrovica again together with local Kosovo police, while the NATO peacekeepers still remained in overall control of security at the courthouse and generally in the north of Kosovo. A gradual transition to civilian control will happen over the next days.

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Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

Pieter Feith
Pieter Feith
Pieter Cornelis Feith is a Dutch diplomat, formerly serving as the European Union Special Representative and still as the International Civilian Representative in Kosovo.- About :...

, the International Civilian Representative in Kosovo and the EU's envoy to Kosovo, accused Serbia of attempting to "sever the links" between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo. Feith added that the international steering group
International Steering Group for Kosovo
The International Steering Group for Kosovo is an organization formed pursuant to the Ahtisaari Plan concerning the Kosovo status process...

set up to supervise Kosovo's independence "will not tolerate partition, because partition of this country is not foreseen and will not be accepted by us." Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci
Hashim Thaci
Hashim Thaçi is the Prime Minister of Republic of Kosovo, the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo , and former political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army .-Early life and education:...

said in a joint press conference with Feith that the "functioning of parallel institutions will not be tolerated."

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried

Daniel Fried

Daniel Fried is a senior career diplomat of the United States who carries the rank of Ambassador. He is presently serving as a Special Envoy to facilitate the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp located in Cuba. Previously, he was the top U.S. diplomat in Europe, and prior to that he was...

said Kosovo's response to the "provocations in the north" vindicates the US's decision to recognize Kosovo's independence declaration. Secretary of State

Secretary of State

Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the 66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of President George W. Bush...

urged Serbian leaders to press the minority Serb community in Kosovo to avoid "provocative action" following the clashes in Mitrovica March 17.
officials urged for UNMIK to secure the borders of Kosovo leading up to the arrival of the EU's mission in Kosovo with Dutch Foreign Minister

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs: it is occupied with the external relations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, including European cooperation and International development...

Maxime Verhagen

Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen is a Dutch politician in the Christian Democratic Appeal party. He is the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and Deputy Prime Minister since October 14, 2010 in the Cabinet Rutte.He previously served as a Member of the European Parliament for...

saying they wanted to avoid a "soft partition" of Kosovo.
's President

President of Serbia

The President of Serbia is the head of state of Serbia. Presently serving as the head of state is Boris Tadić. He was elected with a narrow majority of 50.31% in the 2008 Serbian presidential elections.-Authority, legal and constitutional rights:...

Boris Tadic

Boris Tadić is the President of Serbia and leader of the Democratic Party. He was elected to a five-year term on 27 June 2004, and was sworn into office on 11 July. He was re-elected for a de facto second five-year term on 3 February 2008 and was sworn in on 15 February...

accused the international forces in Kosovo of using "excessive force" and warned of "an escalation of unrest on all the territory of the province" following clashes in Mitrovica over UN court seizures. Serbia's caretaker Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica

Vojislav Koštunica

Vojislav Koštunica is a Serbian politician, statesman and the president of the Democratic Party of Serbia. He was the last President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, succeeding Slobodan Milošević and serving from 2000 to 2003...

said his government was consulting with Russia on joint steps to stop "all forms of violence against Kosovo Serbs" and accused NATO of "implementing a policy of force against Serbia". It was reported steps could include the deployment of Russian troops in the north. Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic told protesters, "We will protect you just like we protect the Serbs in Serbia."
called for a resumption of talks on the status of Kosovo, saying the unrest was a result of the territory's unilateral independence declaration.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he...

condemned the attacks against UN and NATO-led forces following the clashes on March 17 and urged "all communities to exercise calm and restraint."
's Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing concern over unrest and calling for Serbs in Kosovo to avoid violence.
n Foreign Minister

Foreign minister

A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...

Ursula Plassnik

Ursula Plassnik is an Austrian diplomat and politician. She was Foreign Minister of Austria between October 2004 and December 2008.-Early life and career:...

called on Serbia and Kosovo Serb leaders to promote calm in the region adding, "The Serbian government has repeatedly vowed to refrain from violence as a political tool. This must also be carried out consistently."
Milorad Dodik

Milorad Dodik

Milorad Dodik , is the President of Republika Srpska, and the president of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats political party. He graduated from the Belgrade University of Political Sciences .-Political career:...

, the Prime Minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

of Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska

Republika Srpska is one of two main political entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...

said the use of force against Serb protesters in northern Kosovo was “inappropriate whatever the cause for that might be.”

Boycott of Kosovo government

Attacks on Kosovo border posts

Attacks on the international presence and Kosovo institutions

Seizure of UN courthouse in Kosovska Mitrovica

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