This in effect partitions the fragile Kosovo state and cements continued ethnic tensions.Įlsewhere in the region, additional risks persist.
The largely Serb-inhabited northern part of Kosovo continues to be run from Belgrade without vigorous objections from the EU or the U.S. It has high unemployment and little foreign investment and needs enormous foreign assistance. Newly independent Kosovo barely functions after a decade of U.N. Western oversight has failed to ease the tensions among ethnic groups.
Over a decade after the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia, the remaining threats to peace stem mainly from Bosnia and Kosovo, where stability still depends on an international community.īosnia is a nonfunctioning state living under the constant threat of its autonomous Serb entity to hold a referendum on independence. USIP was engaged in the Balkans from 1996-2010, starting in Bosnia immediately after the signing of the Dayton Accords, and later expanding its activities to Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia.
