Why tensions have flared up between Kosovo and Serbia

For years, relations have been tense between the Albanian-led government in Kosovo and ethnic Serbs, who are a minority within the Republic of Kosovo but strongly backed by the Serbian government from across the border. 

This summer, tensions flared up in Kosovo as hundreds of ethnic Serbs blocked the traffic toward Jarinje and Brnjak crossings with the Serbian border in the north, by parking heavy vehicles on roads. And some ethnic Serbs took out guns in protest against the Pristina government's plan to make residents replace their Serbian-issued licence plates with the ones issued by the Kosovar administration. The two border crossings were later closed by Kosovo police as some unknown gunmen allegedly fired on officers.

Since many ethnic Serbs do not acknowledge Kosovo's independence, some 50,000 residents in several regions in northern Kosovo refused to use Kosovan licence plates.

The Kosovo government delayed putting the new regulations into effect after tensions ran high, with the EU mediating an agreement between the two parties, reducing the strain. 

However, the arrest of a former Serb police officer on December 10 served as the catalyst for the most recent protests. Serb protestors and the local police exchanged gunfire.

Serbia increased its military strength and warned that it would not remain silent if Serbs in Kosovo were targeted.

Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, has called for deploying Serb forces to northern Kosovo, further escalating concerns of a resurgence of the conflict that is frozen since 1999 after costing at least 10,000 lives and leaving over 1 million people homeless.

Here’s a close look at why this tension raised concerns.

How did the Kosovo-Serbia conflict reignite?

Kosovo, a majority Albanian-inhabited country, broke away from Yugoslavia in 1999 as a result of the ethnic war between Serbs, Albanians and the Yugoslav government. 

Ibrahim Rugova, the Albanian leader of Kosovo, started a campaign of peaceful protest in 1989 against Slobodan Milosevic, the country's president at the time, who had revoked the territory's constitutional autonomy.

Milosevic and the Serbian minority in Kosovo had long opposed the numerical dominance of Muslim Albanians in a region that the Serbs considered sacred.

The international community's unwillingness to solve the problem contributed to rising tensions between the two ethnic groups, leading to atrocities by the Serbian army and Serbia's violent crackdown on ethnic Albanians calling for independence.

This was resolved in 1999 when NATO bombed Serbia between March and June.

Although Serbian soldiers left Kosovo, the war hasn't been settled for many Kosovo Albanians and Serbs.

Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence in 2008. It is recognised by more than 100 countries, including UK, Germany, France and Türkiye. However, Serbia does not recognise Kosovo’s independence and continues to claim the territory even though it has no formal control there.

Due to the impasse, tensions have been simmering, and the Balkan area has not been able to fully stabilise since the bloody dissolution of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.