Twenty-three years ago this June, Miroljub Ađančić’s brother was working at the Belaćevac mine near Obilic, not far from Priština, when uniformed men wearing the insignia of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) came and took him and nine of his colleagues hostage.
It was June 22, 1998, the first day of the so-called Battle of Belaćevac Mine during the Kosovo War between the KLA and the forces of Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslavia.
The KLA had seized the facility, which provided most of Kosovo’s electricity. A week later, the mine was retaken by units of the Yugoslav Army and Serbian police, which killed ten KLA fighters.
When Kosovo’s parliament debated in 2015 whether to establish an international court to probe alleged war crimes by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the 1998 and 1999 war with Serbia, the vote was presented as a simple choice.
Yes, would result in a deeper relationship with the European Union and Washington DC. No would mean further isolation.
The latter option was a stark option for the tiny Balkan state, whose 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia was still not recognised by Belgrade, Russia, China, and even a handful of European nations, including Spain and Cyprus.
In Kosovo, the vote was seen as an ultimatum: vote the war crimes court into existence, or kiss goodbye to ever joining the EU.
Kosovo’s February 14 election, the sixth for the country in 14 years, landed the opposition Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) party in first place with 48 percent of the vote, again giving it the opportunity, and challenge, to put together a governing coalition with at least 61 deputies in the country’s 120 seat Parliament. Turnout was around 47 percent. The party’s star has been rising; this is the second election with Vetevendosje claiming the highest percentage of votes and the party led a short-lived coalition government in Kosovo following the October 2019 election.
As the dust settles
In these elections, the reform-oriented, left-of-center and strongly nationalist Vetevendosje party surged well ahead of center-right Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), which received 17 percent. Not quite headless, the PDK is currently led by former foreign minister Enver Hoxhaj, after its two top officials, ex-president Hashim Thaci and his close aide Kadri Veseli resigned to face
The head of a special court investigating war crimes allegedly committed during Kosovo's war of independence has told EU diplomats that the court is facing increased efforts to impede ongoing legal proceedings.