Around 600 British troops will be deployed to Kosovo to reinforce NATO’s presence in this former Serbian province, where a heavily armed attack took place on September 24, an alliance spokesman announced on Sunday. “The UK will deploy around 200 soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, who will take part in exercises alongside 400 other British troops already in Kosovo. Reinforcements from other alliance countries will follow,” said Dylan White, NATO spokesman.
The 200 new deployments, in addition to the 400 already in place for exercises, come from a reserve force, Kfor, the NATO-based force deployed in Kosovo, made available to the British Army at the end of the week to deal with renewed tensions in Kosovo the region was provided. KFOR, present in the country since the 1998-1999 war, remains the main institution responsible for the country’s security, with 4,500 soldiers from 27 countries.
New calls for calm
“This decision follows the violent attack on the Kosovo police on September 24 and the growing tensions in the region,” he added, without specifically referring to American statements on Friday warning of a Serbian military operation on the border of the country Kosovo was warned. NATO again called for calm this Sunday and demanded that Belgrade and Pristina return as quickly as possible to the path of dialogue, “the only path to lasting peace,” according to this spokesman.
A Kosovar Albanian police officer was killed last Sunday in an ambush in northern Kosovo, where Serbs make up the majority in several towns. There was a shootout between special units of the Kosovo police and a heavily armed Serbian commando. This is one of the most serious escalations that has occurred in Kosovo in recent years.
Serbia is refusing to recognize the independence of its former Albanian-majority southern province, a decade after a deadly war between Kosovo independence guerrillas and Serbian forces that ended after a NATO bombing raid.