NATO declines Serbia’s request to deploy troops in Kosovo

Europe, News January 10, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

NATO has declined Serbia’s request to send troops to Kosovo under the KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Serbia had launched a request for deployment after recent clashes between the Serbs and the Kosovo authorities.

Last month, the Serbian government asked NATO’s peacekeeping commander to allow the country to send up to 1,000 police and army personnel to Kosovo in order to maintain stability and avoid clashes after the clashes between Kosovo authorities and the Serb population in the northern region, where they constitute a majority.

It was the first time that Belgrade requested to deploy troops in Kosovo since a United Nations Security Council resolution ended the 1998 to 1999 war in the region.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said on January 8, 2023, during a televised interview that NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR) has declined Serbia’s request.

Vucic said during the interview that “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.” He also criticized KFOR for informing Serbia of its decision on the eve of the Christian Orthodox Christmas.

The United Nations Security Council resolution says that if KFOR approves, Serbia would be allowed to deploy troops in Kosovo’s Serb-majority regions for peacekeeping purposes. The troops can only be stationed at border crossings, Orthodox Christian religious sites, and areas with Serb majorities.

Serbia’s former province of Kosovo declared independence in 2008 following the 1998-1999 war. The majority of Kosovo’s population consists of the Albanian ethnic group, while Serbs account for the second largest ethnic group in the country. Half of Kosovo’s Serb population lives in the northern part and refuses to recognize Kosovo’s independence. Most of the others, in other parts of the country including Shterpce, recognize the government and participate in political life.

*^{Members of a peacekeeping force patrol the area near the border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia in Jarinje, Kosovo. (Image Credit: Laura Hasani/Reuters)}*

The independence movement for Kosovo erupted in 1998 when separatist ethnic Albanians launched a rebellion against the Serbian government and Belgrade responded with a brutal crackdown that prompted the NATO intervention.

NATO forces carried out air strikes from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an agreement was reached that led to the withdrawal of Yugoslav armed forces from Kosovo, and the establishment of a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Some 13,000 people died in the conflict, mostly ethnic Albanians. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Both Serbia and Kosovo have applied to join the European Union. The two countries have been told to normalize relations if they want to advance toward EU membership. A senior U.S. delegation is set to visit the region next week to help push forward the deadlock in EU-mediated talks between the two countries.