Christian Falck Wolff

One of Europe's oldest conflicts continues to plague the continent's youngest nation. The division within Kosovo is expressed in the city of Mitrovica, where the Ibar River forms the border between ethnic Serbs in the north and ethnic Albanians in the south.

Armed special forces patrol the sparsely populated region daily to assert Kosovo's sovereignty. Despite the official end of the Kosovo War in 1999, violence between the city's two largest ethnic groups persists. In recent years, a police officer was shot by a sniper, another died in an explosion, and last year, clashes between Serb rebels and police resulted in the deaths of three rebels and an officer.

750 meters beneath the surface lies the heart of the conflict: Kosovo's subsoil, rich with precious metals. Ownership of the local mining complex has been a point of contention for decades, with control switching between Albanian and Serbian hands as conflict and war have shaped its history.

Kosovo's government, under Prime Minister Albin Kurti, has faced criticism from the Serb minority for its firm stance on the dispute. Following their recent election victory, the government is expected to leverage its mandate to tighten control over the northern region and its valuable mineral resources.