KOSOVO'S LINCHPIN: Overcoming Division in Mitrovica (ICG Balkans Report N° 96)
KOSOVO'S LINCHPIN: Overcoming Division in Mitrovica (ICG Balkans Report N° 96)

Author(s): Author Not Specified
Subject(s): Inter-Ethnic Relations, Wars in Jugoslavia
Published by: ICG International Crisis Group
Keywords: Kosovska Mitrovica;
Summary/Abstract: Mitrovica has become the linchpin of Kosovo's future united status. The stakes are high. If the international community cannot re-establish Mitrovica as a single city, efforts to preserve a united Kosovo will also fail. // Trouble has plagued Mitrovica - the city in northern Kosovo effectively divided between a northern Serb portion and a southern Albanian one - since NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) arrived in June 1999. Tensions in the city over the past few months have periodically erupted into violence. The situation has crystallised many of the weak points of the international approach in Kosovo: lack of vision for the future; inability to protect the security of minority groups or to promote real reconciliation between Albanians and Serbs; insufficient human and financial resources among international administrators; and poor co-ordination, as well as finger pointing, among both international military and civilian officials in Mitrovica.

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