BERLIN, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- As Europe remains divided on the recognition of Kosovo, violence has flared up in the former Serbian province.
Several hundred Serbs angry over Kosovo's self-proclaimed independence on Tuesday set fire to two U.N. border posts in Jarnije and Banja, in the northern part of the young country. NATO forces had to step in to contain the violence; according to reports, no one was injured.
The northern part of Kosovo already has parallel institutional structures and is dominated by Serbs, a majority of whom refuse to recognize Kosovo's independence. Observers in Pristina fear that the northern part will force a partition of the country, a move Kosovo's leadership, along with the roughly 17,000 troops of the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping unit KFOR, is intended to prevent.
A key role will fall to the European Union's police and judicial mission that is being relocated to Kosovo these days. It will depend on NATO and EU forces whether Kosovo will break apart, observers say. The key question is whether they will be able to contain the violence at flashpoints such as the northern town of Mitrovica, where ethnic Serbs live north of the Ibar River and ethnic Albanians to the south.
Amidst the unrest, Javier Solana, the European Union's top foreign policy diplomat, visited Kosovo to congratulate its President Fatmir Sedjiu and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci to independence.
"We are good friends of Kosovo, and Kosovo is good friends with the European Union," Solana said.
However, the European Union remains divided when it comes to the official recognition of the former Serbian province. The United States, Britain, France and Turkey have already recognized Kosovo, and the majority of remaining EU nations, including Germany and Italy, have said they will follow suit.
Six states, led by Spain and Cyprus, however, have voiced their concern, mainly because they harbor separatist movements that may take Kosovo as a welcome example to back their claims for independence. Greece, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania have also said they were unwilling to recognize Kosovo.
The only sign of a united EU was a rather weak joint statement drawn up by the EU's foreign ministers; it merely noted that Kosovo had declared independence, adding that it was up to each individual member to recognize the new country. Granted, it is hard to get unanimity in a group with 27 members, but the statement once again demonstrates how limited chances are that the EU will ever speak with one voice on a controversial topic. Observers applaud at least the 2,000-strong police and judicial mission that every EU official has promised is on track.
Brussels has picked Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith as its special representative for Kosovo; while he will likely want to get involved as little as possible, Feith, a seasoned diplomat with experience in Afghanistan, has the power to overrule decisions by Kosovo's elected government. Of course Serbia, which considers Kosovo a historic and cultural cradle of its nation, is equally furious.
"History will judge those who have chosen to trample the bedrock of the international system and on the principles upon which security and cooperation in Europe have been established," Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said.
And then of course there is the powerful eastern opposition to an independent Kosovo -- Russia and China.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday called U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and warned that Kosovo's independence harbors "dangerous consequences" that "could destroy the principles of world order and the international stability that have been established for decades."
Russia is irritated by the West's expansion into Kosovo while at the same time arguing that independence for Kosovo means that ambitions of pro-Russian areas such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia and Trans-Dniester in Moldova should be recognized as well.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, however, said Kosovo was a unique case and would not set a precedent.
Officials doubt Kosovo's independence will seriously damage EU-Russian relations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there was no reason for Russia to be surprised.
"Everyone knew long in advance how this would develop," Merkel told the foreign press corps Monday in Berlin.
