Ethnic Serbs sit on the street Monday opposite NATO-led international peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR) in front of a municipal building in Zvecan, Kosovo. NATO announced Tuesday it would send 700 additional troops after 30 peacekeepers were injured in the clash. Photo by Georgi Licovski/EPA-EFE/
May 30 (UPI) — NATO plans to send 700 additional troops to Kosovo as violence against peacekeepers escalates following the recent election of ethnic Albanian mayors.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced the decision Tuesday after condemning Monday’s attack that injured 30 NATO peacekeepers.
“We strongly condemn the unprovoked attacks against KFOR troops in northern Kosovo, which led to 30 peacekeepers being wounded,” Stoltenberg told reporters during the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Norway. “Such attacks are unacceptable and must stop.”
“We have decided to deploy 700 more troops from the operational reserve force for Western Balkans. And to put an additional battalion of reserve forces on higher readiness, so they can also be deployed if needed,” Stoltenberg announced. NATO already has close to 4,000 soldiers in Kosovo.
Dozens of NATO-led Kosovo Force peacekeepers and protesters were injured Monday after local Serbs blocked municipal buildings in Zvecan to prevent newly elected mayors from entering. The ethnic Albanian mayors were sworn in Thursday to replace Serb mayors who resigned last November in protest over a cross-border dispute over vehicle registrations.
Northern Kosovo’s majority Serbs, who refuse to accept Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, boycotted last month’s local elections. Ethnic Albanian candidates won offices in four Serb-majority municipalities with a 3.5% turnout.
On Monday, KFOR troops from the United States, Poland and Italy, wearing anti-riot gear, used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd as protesters responded with stones, bottles and sticks, according to Kosovo Police who confirmed that five protesters were arrested.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the violence Tuesday and called on all parties to “take immediate actions to de-escalate tensions.”
“The United States condemns the unacceptable violence yesterday against NATO-led KFOR troops, law enforcement and journalists,” Blinken said in a statement.
“The government of Kosovo’s decision to force access to municipal buildings sharply and unnecessarily escalated tensions,” Blinken added, while issuing directives to keep the peace.
“Prime Minister [Albin] Kurti and his government should ensure that elected mayors carry out their transitional duties from alternate locations outside municipal buildings, and withdraw police forces from the vicinity,” Blinken said. “President Vucic and the Government of Serbia should lower the security status of Serbian Armed Forces and urge Kosovo Serbs to halt challenges to KFOR and refrain from further violence.”
“Both Kosovo and Serbia should immediately recommit to engaging in the EU-facilitated Dialogue to normalize relations.”