NATO said Tuesday it was deploying more forces to northern Kosovo after 30 of its peacekeepers were injured in clashes with ethnic Serb protesters, while the European Union called for an urgent de-escalation of tensions.
The commander of the Allied Force Command in Naples, Admiral Stuart Munsch, said the move was a “prudent measure to ensure that KFOR (the NATO-led Kosovo Force) has the capabilities it needs to maintain security”.
An extra multinational battalion of reserve forces had also been put on notice to be ready to reinforce KFOR if necessary, NATO said in a statement from its southern Italian base.
The situation in the northern Kosovo town of Zvecan remained tense Tuesday with ethnic Serbs gathered outside the town hall that a crowd had tried to storm Monday. Kosovo police had repelled them with tear gas, before the NATO-led peacekeepers intervened.
The soldiers at first tried to separate protesters from the police, but later tried to disperse the crowd using shields and batons, an AFP journalist said.
Several protesters responded by hurling rocks, bot-tles and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers.
Many Serbs are demanding the withdrawal of Kos-ovo police forces, as well as the ethnic Albanian mayors they do not consider their true representa-tives.
Kosovo’s ethnic Serb minority boycotted local elec-tions in the north in April, allowing ethnic Albanians to take control of the local councils despite a tiny turnout of less than 3.5 percent.
De-escalate tensions -EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Tuesday urged the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia to immedi-ately de-escalate tensions, saying the clashes were “absolutely unacceptable”.
He said he had spoken to Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Alexander Vucic to tell them to avoid any “further unilateral action”.
“I asked both parties to urgently take measures to de-escalate tensions immediately and unconditionally,” he said.
Borrell said Kosovo’s authorities needed to suspend police operations focused on municipal buildings in north Kosovo and ethnic Serb protesters should stand down.
He warned that the EU was “discussing possible measures to be taken if the parties continue to resist proposed steps towards de-escalation.”
Vucic said 52 demonstrators were hurt in Monday’s clashes, three of them “seriously”. Five Serbs were arrested for taking part in the clashes, according to Kosovo police.—AFP
