Serbia officially requested Thursday that its security forces be allowed to return to Kosovo, despite warnings from the West that such calls would not be accepted and would only increase tensions in the Balkan region, writes the Associated Press (AP).
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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told state television RTS that his government had asked the commander of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo to allow the return of up to 1,000 Serbian soldiers and policemen to be deployed in the northern part of the Kosovo with a Serb majority.
“The application states that a certain number [Serbijas karavīru] between 100 and even 1,000 will return to Kosovo,” Vucic said.
Serbian officials say peacekeeping missions led by NATO and the European Union are failing to protect Kosovo’s Serb minority.
This Serb demand is unlikely to be met, as it would mean “de facto” the security transfer of the northern ethnic Serb-inhabited regions of Kosovo to Serb forces, which would greatly increase tension in the Balkans.
German and US officials have strongly rejected any idea of a return of Serbian security forces to the region.
Serbia actually lost control of Kosovo in 1999 when NATO entered the military conflict to stop the killing and expulsion of Albanians from the province.
February 17, 2008 Chuang declared independence. In October of the same year, at Serbia’s request, the United Nations General Assembly ordered the International Court of Justice to examine the question of whether Kosovo’s declaration of independence was legal. In 2010, the International Court of Justice ruled that Kosovo had not violated international law by declaring independence. Currently, Kosovo has been recognized by more than 100 countries. Serbia, Russia and five EU member states, including Spain, have not recognized Kosovo.
