SHTERPCE, Kosovo — NATO’s mission in Kosovo, KFOR, has declined a Serbian authorities request to ship as much as 1,000 police and armed forces personnel to Kosovo after clashes between Serbs and the Kosovo authorities, President Aleksandar Vucic stated on Sunday.
Serbia’s former province of Kosovo declared independence in 2008 following the 1998-1999 warfare throughout which NATO bombed rump-Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, to guard Albanian-majority Kosovo.
“They [KFOR] replied they consider that there is no need for the return of the Serbian army to Kosovo…citing the United Nations resolution approving their mandate in Kosovo,” Serbia’s Vucic stated in an interview with the non-public Pink tv.
Last month, for the primary time because the finish of the warfare, Serbia requested to deploy troops in Kosovo in response to clashes between Kosovo authorities and Serbs within the northern area the place they represent a majority.
The UN Security Council decision says Serbia could also be allowed, if accepted by KFOR, to station its personnel at border crossings, Orthodox Christian non secular websites and areas with Serb majorities.
Vucic criticized KFOR for informing Serbia of its choice on the eve of the Christian Orthodox Christmas, after Kosovo police arrested an off-duty soldier suspected of taking pictures and wounding two younger Serbs close to the southern city of Shterpce.
Police stated each victims, aged 11 and 21, have been taken to hospital and their accidents weren’t life threatening.
Kosovo authorities condemned the incident, which has infected tensions.
On Sunday, a couple of hundreds Serbs protested peacefully in Shterpce towards what they referred to as “violence against Serbs.”
Goran Rakic, the top of the Serb List, which is the principle Serb get together in Kosovo, accused Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti of attempting to drive out Serbs.
“His goal is to create such conditions so that Serbs leave their homes,” Rakic instructed the group. “My message is that we must not surrender.”
Serbian media reported that one other younger man was allegedly attacked and overwhelmed up by a bunch of Albanians early on Saturday, whereas media in Pristina reported {that a} Kosovo bus going to Germany via Serbia was attacked and its windscreen damaged with rocks late that very same day.
International organizations condemned the assaults, anticipated to deepen distrust between majority ethnic Albanians and round 100,000 ethnic Serbs that stay in Kosovo. Half of them stay within the north and most refuse to acknowledge Kosovo’s independence. — Reuters
