Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has ordered the nation’s army on full alert after weeks of rising tensions in neighboring Kosovo where the local Serb minority has been confronting the authorities over new registration requirements, putting up road blockades and holding protests that threaten to tip into violence, the defense ministry says.
“The President of the Republic of Serbia, as the supreme commander, ordered this evening that the Serbian Army is on highest combat readiness,” Defense Minister Milos Vucevic said in an emailed statement Dec. 26.
Around 100,000 ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo have been demanding the release of several members of their community held by the predominantly ethnic Albanian government. The potential flash point is northern Kosovo, a border area and a home to the biggest remaining Serb community since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
Tensions flared earlier this year when the Kosovo government tried to enforce new rules requiring Serbs, who became a minority when Kosovo seceded from Serbia, switch to car plates and personal documents issued by the government in Pristina rather than Belgrade. The government stepped up police presence in the northern area where Serbs have blocked roads for almost two weeks.
Serbia has asked the NATO-led KFOR peace force to allow it to redeploy troops in Kosovo to protect the Serb population there. Kosovo Premier Albin Kurti has accused Serbia of instigating the unrest, and ruled out allowing autonomy for local Serbs. Serbian officials insist that some self-rule for the minority is part of an EU-brokered agreement.
“The situation in the north of the country and recent incidents are caused by illegal structures and criminal activities, coordinated and supported by the government of Serbia,” Kurti’s government said in an emailed statement on Dec. 26.
