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May 07, 2023

Will the United States Abandon Kosovo?

As an American former judge with the European Union’s rule of law mission in

As an American former judge with the European Union's rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, I’ve been following closely the media reports regarding the recent turmoil in the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo.

The United States and the EU have placed the blame for violent Serb protests squarely on Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who authorised the use of police officers at the end of May to escort recently-elected ethnic Albanian mayors into municipal buildings in four Serb-majority municipalities, using force if necessary.

The move was made without prior consultation with US and EU officials, and despite the advice given on May 18 by the Quint countries – the US, France, Italy, Germany and the UK – not to enter the buildings for fear of trouble.

Kurti's decision has been seen as an act of provocation, as well as a setback for the EU-led, US-supported dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. The international community is furious. The Serb violence that ensued resulted in injuries to 30 members of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force, which had been called in to quell the violence, and about 50 civilians.

The situation has been covered widely in the American press. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was quoted on June 2 in the Wall Street Journal as saying: "These actions [by Kosovo] have sharply and unnecessarily escalated tensions, undermining our efforts to help normalise relations between Kosovo and Serbia and will have consequences for our bilateral relations with Kosovo."

In an article on Balkan Insight, the US ambassador to Kosovo, Jeffrey Hovenier, was quoted as saying that the US "will cease all efforts to assist Kosovo in gaining recognition from states that have not recognised Kosovo and in the process of integration into international organisations".

I was stunned by this verbal bombshell.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic (L), High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell (2-L) and Kosovo's Prime Minister Albin Kurti (R) at the start of a trilateral meeting for an EU-Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue at EEAS building in Brussels, Belgium, 27 February 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

While Kurti may indeed share part of the blame by venturing into a predictable Serb maelstrom, it is unfathomable that Hovenier would essentially delegitimise Kosovo in the eyes of the world after over 20 years of strong support from the US.

Perhaps some tough love was in order, but Hovenier has played right into the hands of Serbia and Russia, and presented them with a political victory they never could have achieved on their own, even in their wildest dreams.

Serbia has engaged in a campaign of de-recognition and de-internationalisation for years, across the globe. It now has carte blanche to continue its efforts.

Another US sanction was to retract an invitation to Kosovo to participate in ‘Defender 23’, joint military exercises involving the US, NATO countries and its partners. This represents a huge blow to Kosovo's aspirations to join the EU and NATO.

How did Kosovo arrive at this perilous place where the US, its major supporter and benefactor, is reluctant to rebuke Serbia, while at the same time, as Americans say, throwing Kosovo under the bus?

During my 28 months in Kosovo between 2011 and 2013, I was always aware of the ethnic tension between the Albanians and Serbs, particularly in the north.

On one occasion in 2012, I was assigned to a case in North Mitrovica, where the US had funded the rebuilding of the UN courthouse after Serb riots in 2008 immediately following Kosovo's declaration of independence.

Two other international judges and I mobilised on the south side of the Ibar River where we gathered up our helmets, bullet proof vests and gas masks, then piled into an armoured vehicle for our circuitous trip to the courthouse on the north side of the river.

The trial progressed smoothly, and there were no security incidents, but the tension in the air was palpable. Clearly, there was enmity between the Albanians living south of the river and the Serbs living north, a little more than a decade after the 1998-99 war. I wondered what the future held.

Since then there have been repeated efforts to normalise relations between Kosovo and Serbia through the Dialogue, starting in 2013 with the Brussels agreement, which among other provisions, called for the creation of an Association of Serb Municipalities, ASM.

Subsequent efforts until recently have largely failed for one reason or another [often because of Serbian provocation], despite a constant parade of heads of state, diplomats, ambassadors, ministers, special envoys, rapporteurs, negotiators, foreign delegations, and assorted other officials, all trying to bring the two sides together.

The predominant sticking point has always been the creation of the ASM and the proper extent of its authority. For Serbia and the Serbs in the North, the ASM is the sine qua non which dwarfs all other issues between the two countries. They want the ASM to be vested with broad authority and executive powers.

Kosovo has steadfastly refused to agree to an Association with sweeping powers as a clear infringement on its sovereignty and territorial integrity, like the trouble-making Republika Srpska in Bosnia.

Vjosa Osmani, (C-L), President and Albin Kurti (C-R), Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo pose with soldiers of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) following the ‘Defender Europe 21’ military exercise in the village of Deve, Kosovo, 28 May 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/VALDRIN XHEMAJ.

Recently, the Dialogue had begun to show some promise with bilateral meetings and agreements between Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels in February and Ohrid, North Macedonia, in March. Point 7 of the agreement struck in Ohrid provides for an ASM, but as always the devil is in the detail and Kosovo and Serbia remain far apart.

Serious trouble had already been brewing well before these meetings. There was the licence plate flare-up last November, when Kosovo insisted that Serb residents in the north switch licence plates from those issued by Serbia to those issued by Kosovo, consistent with Kosovo sovereignty.

But this caused massive civil unrest among the Serbs, as well as the resignation of all Serb municipal officials in the north, such as mayors, police and others. This left the municipalities in the north without governance.

During the unrest, Vucic placed the Serbian military on high alert, exacerbating the problem as is his normal protocol.

But under intense international pressure, Kosovo backed down and postponed implementation of the new licence plate regime. The Serbs were somehow absolved of any responsibility, even though it was obvious that they acted under the encouragement or orders of Belgrade.

So what was Kurti supposed to do? Despite ongoing Serb resistance to every effort by Kosovo to assert its lawful authority in their municipalities, these municipalities are part of Kosovo, and Kosovo had to fill the void.

So Kosovo then scheduled elections in the north on April 24 to fill the vacant positions pursuant to legal requirements, even as acknowledged by the Quint statement referenced above. But again, under likely orders from Belgrade, the Serbs boycotted the elections and less than four per cent of eligible voters cast ballots.

Those who did turn out cast their votes for three Kosovo Albanian mayors and one Bosniak, creating an obviously untenable situation. The Serbs were barely criticised for their failure to participate.

The situation then exploded. After being sworn in, the mayors attempted to enter the municipal buildings to begin work, requiring the assistance of Kosovo police, sometimes using force. Apparently, the mayors were supposed to work elsewhere instead of the municipal buildings, which somehow took on mythical significance.

This set off the violent protests by Serb nationalists and alleged criminal gangs as we’ve just witnessed, some with the letter ‘Z’ written on their clothes as a gesture of support for Russia's war in Ukraine. The KFOR peacekeepers and civilians were injured and Vucic, always adept at making a bad situation worse, placed his military on high alert.

This is the state of affairs now being blamed exclusively on Kurti. Obviously, he should have taken the Quint's advice, since that advice was a clear warning that the Serbs would find a way to exploit the situation and foment trouble, as happened.

But should Kosovo now be ostracised by the US as implied by Hovenier, while the Serbs get a free pass?

During my time in Kosovo and since then, I have always had the strong feeling that my country, the US, was an unwavering supporter of Kosovo through thick and thin.

After all, this small country is a maturing democracy in the Western Balkans with a developing respect for the rule of law following the carnage perpetrated by Serbia during the war. This left over 10,000 dead, countless women raped as a weapon of war, and nearly a million refugees as a result of ethnic cleansing.

The US took the lead in the NATO air strikes to end the war and helped rebuild the country thereafter. It has always provided significant financial, developmental and diplomatic resources. And it has always supported Kosovo in earning recognition from other countries, now over 100, and supported Kosovo's efforts to gain entry into international organisations, all despite Serbia's unrelenting efforts to the contrary.

And Kosovo has always shown its extreme gratitude for America's assistance and support, both in word and deed.

For example, Kosovo continues to host the huge US military base Bondsteel in Ferizaj/Urosevac. And Kosovo volunteered to house hundreds of Afghan refugees while they are being vetted for security purposes, a programme that is still in progress.

Kosovo has opened an embassy in Jerusalem as requested by the US. It has imposed sanctions on Russia for its unprovoked war with Ukraine, while Serbia has not.

Streets in Pristina are named after several Americans heroes, such as former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and former NATO commander Wesley Clark, and there is a huge statute of ex-President Bill Clinton near downtown. American flags can be seen flying throughout the country.

And during this time, many Serbs in the north, with allegiance only to Belgrade, as well as various gangs of organised criminals, have repeatedly caused trouble, being able to act with virtual impunity.

This overall sequence of recent events, including demeaning statements by the US, suggests that times may be changing. It may be that the US is now more inclined to placate Serbia, so as to encourage it not to fall further into Russia's constantly destabilising embrace. Time will tell.

In the meantime, the Kosovo government has now agreed to call new elections in the north, probably sometime this summer. This is a positive sign, and perhaps the US will review the historical context of the dealings between Serbia and Kosovo, and welcome Kosovo back into the fold.

Judge Dean B. Pineles is a graduate of Brown University, Boston University Law School and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He served as an international judge with EULEX from 2011-13. In addition to Kosovo, he has extensive rule-of-law experience in other countries, and wrote about his experiences in ‘A Judicial Odyssey, From Vermont to Russia, Kazakhstan and Georgia, then on to War Crimes and Organ Trafficking in Kosovo’, published in July 2022 by Rootstock Publishers in Montpelier, Vermont.

The opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.