Another 700 troops are sent; The NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo currently consists of nearly 3,800 troops.
NATO is sending an additional 700 troops to North Kosovo after 30 of its peacekeepers were injured in clashes with ethnic Serb protesters amid a long-simmering dispute.
“We have decided to deploy an additional 700 troops from the operational reserve force to the Western Balkans,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Oslo, after talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store on Tuesday.
He said NATO will also “put an additional battalion of reserve troops on high readiness so that they can also be deployed if necessary”.
A battalion typically ranges from 300 to about 1,000 troops. The NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, currently consists of nearly 3,800 troops.
The commander of Allied Force Command in Naples, Admiral Stuart Munsch, said the move was a “prudent measure” to ensure KFOR “has the capabilities it needs to maintain security”.
KFOR said the 30 wounded peacekeepers from Hungary and Italy had various injuries, including “fractures and burns from improvised explosive devices”.
The conflict in Kosovo broke out in 1998 when separatist ethnic Albanians rebelled against the Serbian regime, to which the latter responded with brutal action. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died.
NATO’s military intervention in 1999 eventually forced Serbia to withdraw from the area and paved the way for the establishment of the KFOR peacekeeping mission.
Serbia has refused to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. Ethnic Albanians make up the bulk of the population, but Kosovo has a restive Serb minority in the north of the country bordering Serbia.
The latest round of tensions escalated over the weekend after ethnic Albanian officials overwhelmingly elected by Serbs entered municipal buildings. When Serb protesters tried to block them, Kosovo police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
In response, Serbia put the country’s military on high alert and sent more troops to the Kosovo border. Serbs protested again on Monday, urging both ethnic Albanian mayors and Kosovo police to leave northern Kosovo.
On Tuesday, the situation in the northern Kosovo town of Zvecan remained tense with ethnic Serbs gathering outside the town hall that a mob had tried to storm on Monday. Kosovo police had driven them out with tear gas before NATO-led peacekeepers intervened.
The soldiers first tried to separate protesters from the police, but later tried to disperse the crowd with shields and batons. Several protesters responded by throwing stones, bottles and Molotov cocktails.
Many Serbs are demanding the withdrawal of Kosovo’s police forces, as well as the ethnic Albanian mayors whom they do not consider to be their true representatives.
Collisions ‘absolutely unacceptable’
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia to de-escalate tensions immediately, saying the clashes were “absolutely unacceptable”.
He has since spoken to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Alexander Vucic, asking them to avoid “further unilateral action”.
Borrell said Kosovo authorities should suspend police operations targeting municipal buildings in North Kosovo and for ethnic Serb protesters to withdraw. He also warned that the EU was “discussing possible measures” that could be taken if both sides “continue to oppose proposed moves towards de-escalation”.
Vucic said 52 protesters were injured in Monday’s clashes, three of whom suffered “serious” injuries. According to Kosovo police, five Serbs have been arrested for participating in the clashes.