The Serbian armed forces have been placed on high alert amid rising tensions between Serbia and neighboring Kosovo. The army is now fully ready to use “armed force” if necessary, said Serbian Defense Minister Milos Vucevic.
Vucevic added that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also ordered to increase the number of special forces from the current 1,500 to 5,000.
Independence
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. But the Serbian government in Belgrade refuses to recognize that independence. It is encouraging Kosovo’s 120,000 ethnic Serbs to challenge the authority of the Kosovar administration in the city of Pristina. This is especially taking place in the north of the country, where ethnic Serbs form the majority. Kosovo as a whole has about 1.8 million inhabitants, mainly ethnic Albanians.
The Serbian military has been put on alert several times in recent years due to growing tensions with Kosovo. Unrest has escalated again in recent weeks after hundreds of Serb employees of Kosovo’s police and judiciary went on strike to protest a controversial decision to ban Serbs in Kosovo from using Belgrade-issued license plates on their cars. Eventually the policy was scrapped, but by then the genie was already out of the bottle.
Pristina also wanted to organize local elections in mid-December in many municipalities where the majority of inhabitants are ethnic Serbs. However, those elections were postponed to April after the announcement of that plan also sparked widespread outrage and the main Serbian political party in Kosovo announced it would boycott the election.
Subsequently, on 10 December, a former police officer was arrested in Kosovo for alleged involvement in attacks against ethnic Albanian police officers. That arrest sparked further anger among ethnic Serbs, who erected road barricades, paralyzing traffic around two border crossings.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
