International efforts to
Defuse tensions
in Kosovo
are stepping up as ethnic Serbs
held more protests today
in a town
where clashes broke out this week
between demonstrators
as well as native peacekeepers.
NATO's sending
700 more troops to bolster its force.
That we had that from Jens
Stoltenberg yesterday
after dozens were heard
amid the protests on Monday.
The US responding by sidelining Kosovo
from joint NATO
exercises, blaming its leaders
for aggravating a tense situation
This is what France's
Emmanuel Macron
had to say, repeating Kosovo
incident.
We have very clearly indicated
to Kosovar authorities
that it was a mistake
to proceed with these elections
in this type of context,
which is an almost
complete nonparticipation.
The Kosovar authorities
bear responsibility
for some of the current situation,
and there was a
non respect of an agreement
that was important
and that was signed
only a couple of weeks ago.
Well, Scott McClellan is
following the story
for us here in London. And Scott.
Context is really important here.
Before we talk about
what we've seen this week
and in previous weeks,
just talk us
through the context of this region
that goes back decades. Of course, Yeah.
So it's important to know
a bit of the history here.
So Kosovo declared its independence
from Serbia in 2008.
Many, many countries around the world,
including the US.
Many in Europe
recognized that independence
but Serbia did not.
But it was a full one. Full.
It doesn't recognize it from way up.
From what I understand,
some important ones don't recognize it
in Russia.
But what
I thought it was very interesting
what the president
actually told you last hour,
which is that
it's not really a question anymore.
So he's not explicitly acknowledging
the independence,
but he's sort of in a roundabout way
saying, look, this is the reality.
It's also important to know the ethnic
makeup of this region.
So Kosovo is more than 90%
ethnic Albanian, with some exceptions.
Including there's four
municipalities here.
There's another smaller
one that's right about there
that a majority Serb in these regions
don't want to be ruled
by the powers that be in Kosovo.
And this has caused
all kinds of problems.
So much
so that
ten years ago
2013 Kosovo and Serbia actually agreed on
this document
called the Brussels agreement,
essentially gives
these regions some sort
of autonomy,
something that President Verges told
you was still a major issue,
that it wants
that it wants Kosovo
to actually implement.
It gives them some autonomy
over education and health.
It says that the police chief
should be an ethnic Serb
and that neither
Serbia and Kosovo will interfere
with each other's attempts
to join the E.U..
The problem is that
most of this
was never actually implemented, which,
as the president pointed out,
he blames the Kosovars because it's
mostly theirs to actually implement.
And so that brings us to back in March,
Kosovo and Serbia agreed on this,
which is sort of renewing
their commitment
to the Brussels agreement.
And explicitly acknowledging that
if they can't figure out
how to actually implement
this, there will be consequences
from the European Union.
But it hasn't been implemented.
And that is why we have seen protests
in these northern parts of the country.
Just talk us through
why they're so angry
in the north of Kosovo.
Yeah. And again, President Bush,
which told you quite plainly that
these local elections were a big problem
because there there's legitimacy issue.
So essentially
ethnic Serbs
in these northern municipalities
didn't vote in the local elections.
By and large, they boycott it.
And so you had voter turnout
that overall was 3.4%.
And pretty piddly,
especially considering
when this municipality,
the mayor that was elected,
there only had 141 votes.
There is obviously
a legitimacy question here,
which is why ethnic Serbs
in that area
protested, tried to block the mayors
from actually entering the town halls.
This very violent protest,
may I add, as well. Well, they got this.
They were violent last week.
But they got even more violent on Monday
when you had ethnic Serbs and
Naito peacekeeping forces clashes.
There were explosions.
There were some 30 Naito peacekeepers
who were injured.
And yeah, this was a very ugly scene.
They're all prompted by Kosovo's
insistence
on having these mayors
who don't have a lot of legitimacy
given the boycott of the vote,
actually entering
these municipal offices.
So we've heard
you heard a little clip from Macron
we heard from the NATO secretary general
as well,
Jan Stoltenberg,
pealing calling for peace.
Where does the US sign in all of this?
Yeah, they were quite plain about this.
In blaming Kosovo,
specifically the Kosovo prime
minister for this,
and not responding to their requests
to de-escalate things.
So this is what the ambassador
told journalists.
He said this was a crisis
that from our perspective,
was unnecessary.
The operation that took place on Friday
to obtain access to municipal buildings
through forcible means
was not coordinated with the US.
When we became aware of it,
we advised strongly against it
because we anticipated consequences
that we are now seeing.
And so is that there's two things
that the US
is expecting
from the Kosovo Prime Minister,
and that is that
the mayors are not going to work
from the town hall.
They want them to work at alternate sites
because they're largely doing
administrative work.
But just on that,
when I spoke to the Prime
Minister yesterday,
he did not sound like
he was going to budge on this
or in fact on this.
Exactly, exactly.
And so
and this is
despite pressure from the European Union
and the US, he was pretty defiant.
Listen,
I am working closely with
international factors
especially with the United States
and European Union.
We consider both of them indispensable
allies, friends and partners.
And we will do our best
but I am not surrendering democratic
republic to fascist militia.
And so now you have the US
essentially canceling
Kosovo, its participation
in some military drills
that are actually taking place right now.
They're taking place over
two months in Romania.
The ambassador
also explained that look, there's
not a whole lot of enthusiasm right now
on the United States
as part to advocate for Kosovo.
It's one of its
most important allies,
if not its most important ally
when it comes to countries
that don't recognize their independence.
And they've made clear that, look,
if they can't de-escalate
the situation,
there may be more consequences.
And that is what is needed right now.
The it needs to de-escalate.
Scott, appreciate it.
Thank you very much.
Well, yesterday I spoke with Kosovo's
prime minister, Alban Curti.
As you heard Scott mention
that you refer
to the protests as you had in that clip,
a Serbian fascist,
and he accused Belgrade of stirring up
violent opposition to the elections.
Well, in the last hour,
I put those claims to Serbia's
president, Aleksandar Vucic,
condemned Curtis's accusations
that he wants to stabilize the situation.
Have a listen.
We do regret the fact
that there were some major
soldiers injured,
and that's what we have publicly said.
Immediately after it happened yesterday
and today
and you had them, we faced very peaceful.
We we faced very peaceful protests.
And there were
physicians, nurses, teachers.
Everybody was protesting
were those people blackmailed by someone?
Know those people?
They just want to see
Kosovo special police forces withdrawing
from those premises.
That has never, ever.
We will talk about that, but also call it
legitimate and illegal measures as well.
You're calling for calm.
Mr. President, is that call for calm
also going to those
northern municipalities?
Do you have control
over those protesters?
I don't have any kind of control,
but I believe that most of those people
will always show respect
to the state of Serbia.
And what we can do with our
international interlocutors,
with our partners
from European Union, United States,
all the others from all over the world
is that we need to have a stable region.
Yeah. Why I'm saying that?
Because Serbia, when I say Serbia,
it means 50%
of overall Western Balkans economy.
It means 63% of attracting
foreign direct investments
of an entire region.
We don't need any kind of escalation.
What we need is peace.
And that's why
we proceed an open Balkan initiative.
And that's why
we need to see, of course,
we have freedom of movement
and everything else,
and no one wants to see. Mr.
President, an escalation here.
I don't think anyone's
calling for an escalation.
But let me let me just ask you this.
Look, our colleague
kind of broke down for us.
What's at the heart of this?
And it's the fact that Serbia doesn't
recognize Kosovo
as an independent and sovereign nation.
What would it take, Mr.
President, for Serbia to acknowledge
Kosovo's independence
It's not it's not anymore
even a question,
because if you noticed
what we were speaking about,
through Franco-German plan,
what we were
speaking about
inaugurate, it's about normalization.
It's a process of normalization.
That's a precondition for Serbia's
future progress.