Decades-old grievances spark violence in Kosovo

Roots of this week's clashes run deep, says Chris Stevenson

- Chris Stevenson

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was the issue that loomed largest over the summit of 47 European leaders in Moldova on Thursday, a significant undercurrent involved a crisis between Kosovo and Serbia around 500 miles away.

Tensions that have existed for decades burst into fresh violent clashes this week in northern Kosovo – and the political fallout shows few signs of abating quickly. The US, the EU and Russia are among those weighing in, while Nato has said it is ready to send more troops to the area if an end to the unrest is not forthcoming.

A complex historical dispute

Kosovo is a country in the Balkans that borders Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Of the 1.8 million people living there, 92 per cent are ethnic Albanians and 6 per cent are Serbian. The dispute over the identity of Kosovo stretches back centuries, with Serbia seeing it as the heart of its statehood and religion. The country is home to numerous medieval Serb Orthodox Christian monasteries, while Serbian nationalists view a 1389 battle there against Ottoman Turks as a symbol of their national struggle.

Decades of slowly building tension exploded as the Yugoslav federation fell apart in the 1990s under Serbian nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic. In response, Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders sought independence, and this would escalate into a rebellion and a brutal crackdown from Belgrade.

The conflict, which ran from 1998 to 1999, claimed more than 10,000 lives and left more than a million people homeless. A Nato intervention in 1999 saw the Serbian forces pull out and cede control to international peacekeepers. Kosovo declared independence in 2008.