The decision of the Government of Kosovo to declare “Civil Protection” and “Northern Brigade” as terrorist organizations has been assessed by the Serb List as “part of Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s regime plan to continue political terror in northern Kosovo and the arrest of Serbs”.
“The plans arising from this decision indicate that instead of de-escalation based on the calls of the entire international community and the Serbian people, Kurti is planning further escalation, repression, and consolidation of para-police and occupying power in northern Kosovo,” the Serb List, the largest Serbian party in Kosovo, said in a statement.
On June 29, the Government of Kosovo declared “Civil Protection” and “Northern Brigade” as terrorist organizations, arguing that these organizations are behind the unrest in northern Kosovo and pose a “serious and direct threat to constitutional order and security in Kosovo”.
The Serb List once again called on NATO and European Union missions in Kosovo, KFOR and EULEX, to immediately deploy their forces in northern Kosovo to “prevent Kurti from implementing his sinister plan and endangering peace”.
Authorities in Kosovo have clarified that the decision to declare these two organizations as terrorist will not affect anyone who may have committed criminal acts prior to this decision.
According to the law in Kosovo, when organizations are declared as terrorist, their activities are immediately prohibited. Any further activity by them would have serious legal consequences.
“Civil Protection” and “Northern Brigade” are organizations operating in the northern part of the country, predominantly inhabited by Serbs, and have hundreds of members from the Serbian community.
During the government meeting, the Minister for Communities and Returns Nenad Rašić voted against this decision. He argued that this executive decision was rushed.
Meanwhile, the United States stated that Kosovo has not coordinated with them on this decision, nor with other international partners.
“This decision should have been coordinated with Kosovo’s closest international partners, including those who have the primary responsibility to ensure stability in Kosovo,” said a State Department spokesperson for Radio Free Europe.
Since the end of the war in 1999, illegal structures supported and financed by the state of Serbia have been operating in Kosovo.
One of them is “Civil Protection”, which became public in 2011.
“Civil Protection” operates under the Ministry of Interior in Serbia, and its role is to respond to emergency situations such as floods, earthquakes, and similar threats.
Its dissolution is foreseen in the agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia in 2015 within the framework of the dialogue for the normalization of relations.
In August 2022, graffiti with a logo and the inscription “Northern Brigade” in Serbian appeared in the northern part of Kosovo.
Apart from the graffiti with its logo on several streets and various objects in the northern part of Kosovo, it is not known who is behind it, whether there are active members, and what their role is.
The declaration of “Civil Protection” and the “Northern Brigade” as terrorist organizations comes at a time when tensions in northern Kosovo have escalated.
Local Serbs are opposing the newly elected Albanian mayors of Zvečan, Zubin Potok, and Leposavić, who were elected on April 23. These elections were boycotted by the Serbian population.
Since May 26, Serbs have been protesting in the north, and since then, several attacks with improvised explosive devices and hand grenades have been reported in the area, causing material damage but no casualties.
The international community has called on Kosovo and Serbia to immediately de-escalate the situation, and for Pristina to organize new elections in the four municipalities in the north.
