Unrest in Kosovo

Reports of an outbreak of new COVID-19 cases in Serb-run northern Kosovo have sparked in-fighting among politicians in Kosovo and accusations of negligence.

On Sunday, the main hospital in the Serb-run north, in the divided town of Mitrovica, confirmed 26 cases in the three northern municipalities of Mitrovica North, Zvecan and Leposavic.

Donald Trump Jr wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that he agrees with a suggestion by Republican senator David Perdue that the US should "reconsider its presence" in Kosovo if Pristina does not agree to fully revoke its 100 per cent tariffs on imports from Serbia.

But in the recent past, Prizren has not always been such a problem-free place for Serbs. Out of a pre-war population of around 10,000 Serbs, Jevtic is one of only about 20 who returned after the conflict to live in the city today.

Foreign affairs and Kosovo negotiations face taking a back seat to elections in Serbia and the prospect of a damaging opposition boycott.

"My father started the trade. We had customers from all parts of Mitrovica," said a Kosovo Albanian shopkeeper who gave his name as Blerim.

"During the war, the shop didn't work. After, we started working and mostly we sold basic foods. Not a lot of Serbs came to us then, but with time it changed."

Just over a decade since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, less than 10 per cent of ethnic Serbs in the majority-Albanian country believe their lives will improve in the next three years, according to the results of a survey.

The likely leader of Kosovo's next government has made pledges on Serbia and the Kosovo Serbs that he may find hard to keep, experts say.

Odalovic told RTS that it is evident that Albanians cannot calculate and manipulate the Serb List, so they try in other ways.

Andrija Tomanovic, the head of the surgery clinic at the Clinical Hospital Centre in Pristina, called his daughter Jelena on June 24, 1999 at around 1pm to tell her he was on his way home from work.

As the driver collects the IDs, he passes a woman with a persistent cough and asks in Albanian: "A je mire?" - Are you OK? After seeing her name, he later returns her ID to her saying respectfully in Serbian: "Izvolite gospodo," - Here you are, ma'am.