Serbia

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on July 21st, 2011
Reuters photo

There are no demonstrations on the streets of Belgrade for Goran Hadzic, the last suspect wanted by the UN Court in the Hague, who was finally captured this week.

There have been no outpourings of nationalist rage.  In part, this is because even the extremists find it hard to justify the appalling deeds of the Serbian militiamen who were, in theory, under Hadzic's command in eastern Croatia in the early 1990s.

Their savagery was notorious, their motives often blatantly mercenary.

Throughout the Balkan wars, the line between nationalist and criminal activity was frequently blurred, [and not just by Serbs] but it was perhaps especially hard to tell if the militiamen in the Slavonia region were more interested in fighting, or smuggling and profiteering.

In part, too, it is simply because the events of the early 1990s, Vukovar et al, now seem an awfully long time ago, and increasingly irrelevant, and not just to a younger generation of Serbs.

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on July 22nd, 2010
Picture from AFP

A stunning victory for Kosovo, a bitter defeat for Serbia; it’s hard to interpret the ruling of the International Court of Justice in any other way.   Remember, it was Serbia that asked the ICJ to consider the issue; whether Kosovo’s 2008 unilateral declaration of independence was legal or not. The Court has surprised many of us by coming back with such an unequivocal opinion in favour of Kosovo, supported by a clear majority of judges.

Not surprisingly, there are celebrations in Pristina. Cars are driving round and round in circles with horns blaring, and people are flying Kosovan, Albanian and American flags. Dusk is now falling, and fireworks are going off. In Belgrade, the mood is bleak.

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on July 19th, 2010
Photo by EPA

What do Mauritania, Swaziland, Somalia, Djibouti and Vanuatu have in common? Not a lot, but they are they are the only countries that have recognised Kosovo as a sovereign state this year.

Two and a half years have passed since Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia, and the initial flood of recognitions has slowed to a trickle. Kosovo is in limbo; supported by the United States and the EU heavyweights, but with it’s path to UN membership firmly barred by Russia and China on the Security Council, and with a clear majority of countries having decided, for now, not to offer it recognition.

This is the background to an important ruling this Thursday, July 22 by the International Court of Justice in the Hague.  In response to a request by Serbia, it will announce an advisory opinion on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

By Gregg Carlstrom in Middle East on May 31st, 2010
Protesters in Istanbul wave Palestinian flags after the raid (Photo: AFP)

Early Monday morning, Israel attacked a flotilla of aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip; up to 10 people were killed in the pre-dawn raid, according to organisers and media sources.

We'll be live-blogging the aftermath of this incident throughout the day; keep checking back for international reaction, news from our correspondents on the ground, photos and video. (All times are GMT, except where noted.)

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By Barnaby Phillips in Africa, Europe on April 27th, 2010
Picture from AFP

Africa does many things badly, but one thing especially well. It has perhaps unparalleled ability to reconcile and overcome painful divisions in the aftermath of conflict. 

I was reminded of this last week, in Belgrade, of all places, when I interviewed Boris Tadic, Serbia’s president, for the Talk to Al Jazeera programme.  He wanted to talk about the recent resolution passed by the Serbian parliament, which condemned the 1995 massacre of Bosniak Muslims at Srebrenica, carried out by Serbs.

President Tadic said he was proud of his parliament, arguing that it had shown how Serbia distanced itself from the crimes of the 1990s and "shared Western European values".

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on April 23rd, 2010

Could Kosovo be geographically divided, and a portion given back to Serbia? The question has been floating around for some time, of course.

It seems like a possible solution to an otherwise intractable problem. The ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo do not want to be part of Serbia, and declared independence unilaterally in 2008.

But the Serb minority in Kosovo are adamant they will never accept the Albanian-dominated government in Pristina. 

Many of Kosovo’s Serbs live in the north, in an area that is geographically contiguous with Serbia proper.

So a possible solution would be for Serbia to accept Kosovan independence,

in return for which Pristina would agree to relinquish its claim to that northern sliver of territory, (over which it has never had practical control, anyway).

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on March 12th, 2010
Photo by AFP

As we all know, Serbia doesn't recognise Kosovan independence.

So does this make it impossible to invite their respective leaders to the same conference? We're about to find out.

Slovenia has called a meeting, on March 20, to discuss the future of the Western Balkans.

EU and regional leaders are expected to attend, and discuss how to speed up the integration of Balkan countries into the EU.

The difficult political situation in Bosnia will be high on the agenda.

But there's a snag. Serbia's leaders won't turn up if Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's prime minister, is allowed to attend in the capacity of a head of government.

Serbia says it can only accept Kosovan politicians appearing under the flag of the UN mission in Kosovo (Unmik).

This, according to Boris Tadic, Serbia's president, is a "fundamental preconditon". 

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on February 16th, 2010
Photo from EPA

Kosovo turns two on 17th of February. That is, if you recognise its independence. Two years ago, massive, happy crowds braved freezing weather, and danced through the streets of Pristina and other towns, waving Albanian and American flags, as Kosovo unilaterally declared it was seceding from Serbia.

Today Kosovo is recognised by most European countries, but only by a minority in other parts of the world. The current tally of countries that have recognised Kosovo is 65. Or, if you’re from Serbia, you’d probably prefer to see that statistic turned on its head; so far, 127 UN member states have chosen not to recognise Kosovo.

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on November 13th, 2009

The European Parliament has endorsed a plan to give citizens from Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia the right to visa-free travel in most of the countries of the European Union.

It's expected that EU governments will give final approval to the plan by the end of the year. For citizens of those three countries, this is great news. Anyone who has travelled through the Western Balkans knows that people there feel cut-off and frustrated by the difficulty of obtaining a visa to go to the EU.

The sense of injustice is exasperated by the fact that, in the old days, citizens of Yugoslavia could travel freely around Europe.

But ... that still leaves Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Except it's not quite that simple, as the Economist explains.

By Barnaby Phillips in Europe on October 29th, 2009

Countries spend alot of money on branding these days; you've probably seen those lavish advertisements on television, for "Incredible India" or "Magical Kenya".

Less celebrated countries, like Kazakhstan, Armenia and Montenegro have got in on the act, trying to throw off negative stereotypes, and project images of beautiful, sun-kissed lands, rich in heritage, with friendly people who are eager to greet visiting tourists and businessmen.  

Now, Kosovo has done the same, with a well-produced 60 second film, coming soon to a television screen near you.

If you can't wait, here it is:

Al Jazeera Live

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