Kosovo demands that Serbia withdraw its forces deployed on the borders of the two countries
On Saturday, Kosovo demanded that Serbia withdraw its forces from their common border, saying that it was ready to protect its territorial integrity.
Tensions have been escalating between the two countries since last Sunday, when Kosovo police fought about 30 heavily armed Serbs who invaded the village of Baniska in Kosovo and barricaded themselves in a Serbian Orthodox monastery. Three of the attackers and a police officer were killed.
The armed clash raised new international concerns about stability in Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority and which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, after an armed uprising and NATO intervention in 1999.
The Kosovo government said in a statement: “We call on President Vucic and Serbian institutions to immediately withdraw all their forces from the border with Kosovo.”
She added: “The deployment of Serbian forces along the border with Kosovo is the next step by Serbia to threaten the territorial integrity of our country.”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told the Financial Times that he does not intend to order his forces to cross the border into Kosovo, because escalation of the conflict would harm Belgrade’s aspirations to join the European Union.
The United States said on Friday that it is monitoring a disturbing deployment of the Serbian army along the Kosovo border, and that this deployment is destabilizing the region.
The Kosovo government stated: “Kosovo, in coordination with international partners, is more determined than ever to protect its territorial integrity.”
She continued: “This deployment of forces also includes the deployment of anti-aircraft systems and heavy artillery.”
She added: “The government of the Republic of Kosovo is in constant contact with the United States and European Union countries regarding this serious threat from Serbia.”
NATO, which has 4,500 troops deployed in Kosovo, said on Friday that it had “agreed to deploy additional forces to deal with the current situation.”
(Reuters)
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2023-09-30 22:00:04
