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Since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, there has been a constant tension between the two countries. Although relations between the two have gradually improved over recent years, Serbia is still reluctant to normalize relations with Kosovo whose independence it does not recognize. Due to the disposition of minority groups between the two countries, some suggest that a land swap could speed up the normalization process. Swapping land and redrawing borders based on ethnic and sectarian lines would mark a dangerous precedent and would open up a Pandora’s box in the region.
Police and prosecutors in Kosovo are struggling to solve violent crimes, particularly when they occur in a northern pocket of the country populated mainly by Serbs, according to a BIRN analysis of crime data illustrated in an interactive map.
A bridge over the Ibar River separates and divides the city of Mitrovica. Kosovar Albanians live to the south of the bridge and Serbs live to the north while Kosovo Force (KFOR), a NATO-led peacekeeping mission, guards the bridge itself.