Serbia

The United States claims to have spotted a “significant deployment” of Serbian troops on the Kosovo border. They are calling for the withdrawal of this army. NATO is ready to reinforce its troops on site.

Climbing in the Balkans. This Friday, September 29, a White House spokesperson “calls on Serbia to withdraw the troops” massed on the border with Kosovo. “We are seeing a significant Serbian military deployment along the border with Kosovo,” including the “unprecedented” deployment of artillery, tanks and infantry units, spokesman John Kirby said. of the United States National Security Council.

John Kirby indicated that the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken had called Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Friday to express American “concern” and “highlight the need for an immediate reduction in tensions and a return to dialogue.” The American national security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti.

John Kirby did not wish to comment on the risk of a possible invasion of Kosovo. He stressed that “due to recent developments, KFOR”, the force deployed by NATO in this former Serbian province, “was going to increase its presence” in the north of the territory. He was not able to say whether this was only a redeployment of KFOR troops towards northern Kosovo, or a net increase in the number of soldiers deployed by this force.

NATO, for its part, said it was ready on Friday to strengthen KFOR personnel. “Yesterday (Thursday), the North Atlantic Council (NATO political decision-making body) authorized additional forces to deal with the situation,” Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement on Friday. communicated. The text does not specify what type of forces could be deployed if necessary, but the British Ministry of Defense specified for its part that a battalion, approximately 500 to 650 men, had been made available to Kfor, in the event of of necessity in Kosovo. “We will always take all necessary measures to maintain a safe and secure environment as well as freedom of movement for all people living in Kosovo,” Jens Stoltenberg recalled in this press release.

Tension has been rising between the two countries since the death of a Kosovar police officer on Sunday September 24. The Kosovar Prime Minister immediately denounced an attack by “organized crime” supported by Serbia, while the Serbian president denounced “lies”. The police officer was killed while patrolling near the border with Serbia. He was going near a road reported as blocked when his unit “was attacked from different positions with heavy weapons, including grenades,” according to police. Several hours of exchange of fire followed between the Kosovar police and a heavily armed commando of several dozen men holed up in a monastery. Three of them died, three were arrested, and the fate of the others is unknown. Kosovo assures that several are in Serbia, treated in a hospital in the south of the country.

Since a conflict which left 13,000 dead, mostly Kosovar Albanians, relations between the two former enemies have gone from crisis to crisis. Serbia, supported in particular by its Russian and Chinese allies, refuses to recognize the independence of its former province declared in 2008, whose population of 1.8 million inhabitants, overwhelmingly of Albanian origin, includes a Serbian community. of around 120,000 people, who live mainly in northern Kosovo.

This region is thus the scene of recurring violence, the latest dating back to the spring, when the Kosovar authorities decided to appoint Albanian mayors in four municipalities with a Serbian majority. It sparked one of the worst episodes in years, with protests, Serbia’s arrest of three Kosovar police officers and a violent riot by Serbian protesters that left more than 30 peacekeepers injured. NATO.

2023-09-29 19:44:05


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