eran oppenheimer .nl

redefining old divisions

The unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo provoked strong reactions on both he Kosovo Albanian and the Serb side. Filled with joy the Albanians took to the streets in the capital Pristina, already a day before the official declaration. But tensions rose in the Serb dominated northern part of the country in the days following.

Kosovo Albanians celebrate their independence on the streets of the Kosovo capital Pristina. A woman passes the old factories in Pristina, where unemployment is at a staggering height. Italian KFOR troops stationed along the Pristina - Mitrovica road. On the streets of Pristina. Children wave the Albanian flag from a car in Pristina, the evening before the declaration of independence. French KFOR troops put up barbed wire at the Jarinje border post after it was attacked by angry Serbs. Kosovo Serbs stage a daily rally in the northern part of Mitrovica. A Serb woman at a former school in northern Mitrovica, that serves as a shelter for Serb refugees. A huge billboard of former US president Bill Clinton, on the bill Clinton Boulevard in Pristina. Kosovo Albanians celebrate their independence on the streets of Pristina. An old man prays at a small KLA cemetery up on Martyrs' Hill in Pristina. Orthodox nuns at a church service in the Serb enclave of Gracanica. A Serb rally in the northern part of Mitrovica. A KFOR bulldozer clears burned vehicles at the Jarinje border post in northern Kosovo after an attack by angry Serbs. A Serb woman walks past the old monastery in the serb enclave of Gracanica. A Serb rally in the northern part of Mitrovica. The sunday morning service in the Serb enclave of Gracanica. A man puts up an Albanian flag on his house in Pristina on independence day. French KFOR troops watch the Serbian side of the Jarinje border post in northern Kosovo.

For more than 8 years after the 1999 Kosovo war, the Serb province was under the administration of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, until the Kosovo government declared its independence from Serbia on the 17th of February 2008. For the Albanians this was the end of years and years of struggle for an independent state, but for the Serbs it was not only the loss of land, the loss of what they believed to be the cradle of their culture, but also to become a minority in a country they did not even recognize.