Kosovo’s Independence in Jeopardy
Russia Threatens Provinces’s Bid to Peacefully Separate from Serbia
The United Nations Security Council is working on a resolution to create an independent Kosovo. Russia, siding with Serbia, has threatened to veto the resolution.
Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia whose population is dominated by ethnic Albanians, has been seeking its independence for decades as ethnic tensions have overshadowed any attempts for peace in the region. These inter-ethnic struggles have existed for centuries before the province was officially created in 1945 to protect the regional Albanian population.
In 1974, the province's government received greater powers making it a de facto republic within the Yugoslavian Federation, but in reality, remained only an autonomous province within the Serbian Republic. An Albanian nationalist movement failed in its attempts for full recognition as an independent republic within the Federation. Conflicts between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s, escalating during the rule of Slobodan Milosevic.
More than a War of Words
Tensions finally boiled over in 1996 when the previously unknown Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) clashed with Serbian and Yugoslav security forces. The KLA frequently attacked the Serbs, who then retaliated against the KLA and Albanian population. The Serbs participated in the mass killings of ethnic Albanians and expelled thousands from the region. The culmination of these battles was a NATO bombing campaign between March and June 1999 aimed at ousting the Serbs from Kosovo and restoring order to the region. The war ended with the United Nations and NATO assuming control of the area.
Challenges to Kosovo's Independence
Now, with Kosovo's independence in reach, Russia appears ready to block a United Nations Security Council resolution that would create an independent Kosovo state. Currently, a new Security Council draft resolution regarding the Kosovo situation is being discussed. The goal is to allow Kosovo to peacefully separate from Serbia as an independent country, removing U.N. and NATO security forces in the process.
Russia, however, is ready to veto the resolution. Moscow feels that Kosovo cannot separate from Serbia without the Serbian government's consent. This would apply the same standards to Kosovo as those applied to the separatist South Ossetia and Abhazia regions of Georgia. The Russian foreign minister has also asked why the Security Council is in such a hurry to grant Kosovo independence, comparing this situation to the council's failure to support an independent Palestinian state in the Middle East.
Non-U.N. Support for Kosovo's Independence
The United States, frustrated with Russia's refusal to approve the resolution, has made it clear they are in full support of Kosovo's independence. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, referring to discussions about dealing with Kosovo's independence outside of the United Nations, recently said "We are committed to an independent Kosovo and we will get there one way or another." Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeermic countered by announcing that "Imposing independence of Kosovo to Serbia outside the Security Council is a guarantee to destabilize the Western Balkans."
As the summer heats up and relations between Russia and the West continue to cool, one can only wonder when and how Kosovo will finally gain its independence.
References
Jansen, G. Richard. "Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo: An Abbreviated History." June 15, 2007.
