A few thousand troops keep a low-key presence, but with western attention fitful, how long for?

Twenty years after Nato ground troops first entered Kosovo at the end of a 78-day aerial bombardment, 3,500 troops from the military alliance remain on the ground in the fledgling nation where the conflict is still yet to be definitively settled.
Today, the 28-country Kosovo Force (Kfor) acts largely as a “third reserve” after the local police and the EU, although there is one exception where Natotroops guard the 14th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery at Dečani.

It is six years since Islamic leaders and government officials laid the cornerstone of Pristina’s new central mosque – a slab of stone now hidden beneath weeds in a parking lot.

Pulling back the weeds reveals it is covered with bright red graffiti – death threats to Kosovo’s chief mufti, along with the words: “No Turkish mosque or there will be blood.”

A court has jailed two Kosovan doctors for harvesting kidneys and selling the organs to wealthy patients for up to €100,000 (£88,000).

https://bit.ly/2s6O8kC

Concerns over rule of law and corruption, plus enlargement fatigue, meant the six countries got little from Sofia summit

Keep waiting in line, but don’t expect the door to open any time soon. That was the message delivered on Thursday to six Balkan states hoping to join the EU.

In a picturesque village in northern Kosovo, Marko Đurić swigged from a bottle of Gazimestan beer and smiled for the cameras. On a visit to the area a few weeks previously, Đurić had been arrested by special forces, bundled into a police van, and unceremoniously deported. This time, Serbia’s point man for Kosovo issues was allowed to stay, albeit with a helicopter hovering noisily overhead to keep watch.

https://bit.ly/2jg9QOg

Aleksandar Vučić will accept independence only if Serbia gets something concrete in return.

When Nato bombed Serbia in 1999, Aleksandar Vučić was information minister, enforcing censorship rules for the country’s president, Slobodan Milošević, who would later be  for war crimes.

Marko Đurić was seized by special police officers who fired stun grenades to disperse crowd.

Air raid sirens have rung out in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo after special police fired stun grenades in a raid to detain a senior Serbian official, raising fresh tensions in the region.

The 41-year-old who has never been part of a political party has risen from obscurity and is working to change Belgrade’s image

The appointment of Ana Brnabić as Serbia’s prime minister aged 41 was accompanied by the sound of glass ceilings being shattered all around her.

Not only is she the first woman to take on the role, Brnabić is gay and has achieved high office without being a member of a political party.

The UK is not the only country to have experienced a snap election in June. In Kosovo, a coalition between the Democratic party of Kosovo, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo and the Initiative for Kosovo has finished in first place with 34% of the vote. A victory, but not enough to form a government. Sound familiar?

http://bit.ly/2s3MsHB

The European Union needs to be more visible in the western Balkans to counter Russian attempts to destabilise the region, a leading MEP has said, as EU leaders gather for a summit in Brussels on Thursday.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/08/top-mep-says-eu-must-do-more-to-stop-russia-destabilising-balkans