TIRANA (Reuters) - Former U.S. President&nbsp;Bill&nbsp;Clinton, largely credited for ending the&nbsp;Kosovo&nbsp;war more than two decades ago, on Monday told&nbsp;Kosovo's government to&nbsp;stop&nbsp;its actions in the&nbsp;Serb&nbsp;majority&nbsp;north, where tension has flared over the past few months.
Kosovo's&nbsp;northern region, home to 50,000 ethnic&nbsp;Serbs, has recently seen its worst tensions since Pristina declared independence from&nbsp;Serbia in 2008.
Violence erupted in late May after ethnic Albanian mayors took office following a local election in which turnout was just 3.5% after&nbsp;Serbs boycotted the vote.
Some 30 NATO peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in&nbsp;northern&nbsp;Kosovo&nbsp;were injured in clashes with&nbsp;Serb&nbsp;protesters, and 52 protesters were wounded.
"It's easy for the Albanians now in the&nbsp;majority&nbsp;to try to use the moment to make a point. But the real thing we need to do is to&nbsp;stop&nbsp;this foolishness,"&nbsp;Clinton&nbsp;said during a ceremony in Tirana where he received a medal from Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Clinton&nbsp;was the most outspoken proponent of NATO intervention to halt killings of Kosovar civilians by&nbsp;Serbian forces as part of Belgrade&rsquo;s 1998-99 crackdown on a&nbsp;Kosovo&nbsp;Albanian guerrilla uprising.
The war ended in June 1999 after 78 days of NATO bombardments against&nbsp;Serbia's forces.
The United States and the European Union,&nbsp;Kosovo's main allies, have mainly blamed Prime Minister Albin Kurti for igniting tension in the&nbsp;north&nbsp;by installing four mayors in their offices with police despite objections from local&nbsp;Serbs.
"What major political issue can possibly be advanced by how those four little towns are run?"&nbsp;Clinton&nbsp;said.
In Belgrade, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said growing tensions between Belgrade and Pristina "cause great concern, as well as the increase in violence".
After meeting&nbsp;Serbia&rsquo;s President Aleksandar Vucic, he stressed the importance of Belgrade and Pristina taking steps towards de-escalating and normalising relations.
"It is crucial for the wider region and Europe as a whole. While the war in Ukraine is raging, it is more important than ever that we act together," Rutte said.
The EU has already placed sanctions on&nbsp;Kosovo, including halting a large part of its economic aid, and has threatened more measures if Kurti does not back down.
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(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina, Florion Goga in Tirana and Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade; Editing by Sonali Paul)

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Bill Clinton tells Kosovo: stop 'foolishness' in Serb-majority north