Non-Subscriber Extract
Opinion: Restraint is key in Kosovo
By Jim Dorschner
26 February 2008
While there has been some violence since Kosovo declared independence on 17 February, most of the action thus far has been diplomatic.
If extremist violence can be contained - and that remains a big challenge - the diplomatic wrangling for an acceptable accommodation will continue at least through the rest of this year without fundamentally altering the course of action undertaken by Kosovo's elected government: internationally supervised independence.
Serbia is also likely to remain on an advantageous fast track to enhanced relations with the EU if extremists in and out of government can be restrained. The greatest danger remains further violence on the ground igniting widespread inter-communal conflict, including the prospect of an organised Serb insurgency against NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) and/or the Kosovo government and mass action by ethnic Albanians against the Serb minority.
Kosovo has been an UN-administered province of Serbia since the 1999 NATO intervention that ousted Serb forces combating a prolonged insurgency by Kosovar Albanians. Serbs account for about 100,000 of Kosovo's two million people and most live north of the Ibar River in an area adjoining Serbia. Around 200,000 Serbs have fled the province for Serbia since 1999.
In a declaration of independence before a special session of the elected Kosovo assembly, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci repeatedly reached out to Kosovo's Serb minority and to Serbia while thanking the international community for its steadfast support, particularly the United States, the EU and NATO. Thaci also welcomed the imminent transfer of international oversight of the new country from the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to the EU and officially invited NATO to continue as the primary provider of security in conjunction with the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) and the UNMIK Police.
Serbia responded by vowing never to recognise Kosovo's secession. It also promised to overturn independence using every possible diplomatic and legal means available, short of military action. On 18 February the Serbian parliament passed a resolution annulling Kosovo's independence and restating Serbian sovereignty as guaranteed by UN and international law. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica then recalled Serbian ambassadors from the US, France, Turkey and other countries that recognised Kosovo.