Kosovo: Allowing Kosovar Serbs to Secede ‘Inhuman’

NATO Warns of Growing Tension After Trade Row

Following a meeting today with European Union President Herman Van Rompuy, Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga condemned the notion of Kosovar Serbs having the same right to secession that caused the creation of Kosovo.

Proposals for partition of Kosovo or exchange of territories are unacceptable, inhuman and anti-historical,” she insisted after the talks. The Kosovar Serbs have hoped to rejoin Serbia, complaining of harsh discrimination in Albanian majority NATO-occupied Kosovo.

Many in the Serb-majority north had been operating as though they were still part of Serbia, trading and traveling freely. Attacks by the central government and the seizure of border posts by NATO put an end to that.

Now NATO is warning that tensions are on the rise again in the north, and that “extremist” sentiment among ethnic Serbs could lead to violence. At the same time, Rompuy and other EU officials praised Jahjaga for her willingness to meet over the tensions, even though she made it clear the Kosovo government will do nothing to answer the grievances causing them.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.