The U.S. special envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, who is in the region as part of a diplomatic effort to de-escalate tensions, stressed in an interview with RFE/RL the importance of creating an association of municipalities with majority Serb residents as a necessary step forward for the region.
Escobar told RFE/RL on December 13 that the association is the most important thing that Washington wants to see and said the United States will help the Kosovar government form and implement it.
“It is an obligation for Serbia, it is an obligation for Kosovo, it is an obligation for the EU, which helped in its negotiation,” he told RFE/RL’s Balkan Service in Pristina. “And since we support the dialogue, it is also our commitment.”
SEE ALSO: EU Urges De-Escalation In Kosovo, U.S. Sends Envoys To Pristina After Latest ClashesThe Association of Serbian Municipalities was agreed in the 2013 Brussels Agreement on normalizing relations but has never officially come into existence.
Escobar added that he believes that work on forming the association should begin immediately and the process must include the government of Kosovo.
“If not, we can develop that discussion with alternative partners, with civil society, with youth groups, with the business community, with everyone who would like to see Serbia and Kosovo emerge from this cycle of instability," he said.
Escobar held talks on December 12 in Kosovo's capital with Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani and Prime Minister Albin Kurti to look for ways to reduce tensions in the region. Kurti has suggested municipalities cannot be organized along ethnic principles.
Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo who quit their jobs last month over the government’s recent plans to implement a license plate conversion program have said they would only return to work if the association is formed.
Escobar also made clear in the interview that the United States “categorically” opposes the return of Serbian forces to Kosovo and noted that Pristina has firm security guarantees from the United States through its participation in KFOR, the NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo.
SEE ALSO: Tensions Rise, Violence Reported In Kosovo As Ethnic Serbs Block RoadsSerbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier this week he planned to seek the return of Serbian troops to Kosovo. Escobar said he didn't expect Belgrade to make an armed incursion but, asked about that possibility, he reiterated that Kosovo has U.S. security guarantees.
Escobar’s visit to Pristina comes after protests on December 12 triggered by the arrest two days earlier of ethnic Serbian police officer Dejan Pantic, who took part in a mass resignation of Serbs from the force last month over the program to phase out old license plates.
The license plates are regarded as illegal by the Kosovar government, but it has tolerated them until now in four northern municipalities with Serb majorities.
Violence broke out on the night of December 10-11 after barricades were set up in solidarity with Pantic, who was charged with domestic terrorism after being accused of attacking state offices, the election commission offices, and police officers and election officials in northern Kosovo.
Escobar said that the barricades should be removed by the people who erected them. At the same time, he asked that the government of Kosovo find ways to address the grievances of the Serbian community in the north.
“The reality is that we need everyone to contribute to the process and everyone to contribute to the resolution of this current crisis,” he said. “And beyond the crisis, we need to start thinking about a more sustainable framework in which communities in this country can work together.”