NATO reinforces Kosovo with 700 new soldiers to avoid another escalation of tension with Serbia

Friction tends to be concentrated in Kosovo, a territory that declared its independence from Serbia unilaterally in 2008 and that, despite the fact that it came out of the war in the 1990s, it continues to be the frequent scene of violent episodes between two ethnic groups, Kosovar Albanian majority and Serb minority. This is due, among other things, to the fact that Belgrade does not recognize Pristina’s sovereignty, nor do five other European countries, including Spain.

However, tensions began to escalate last summer with the so-called enrollment crisis until they reached its peak this Monday, when a group of Serb protesters tried to storm the offices of several municipalities in northern Kosovo. In this way they wanted to prevent mayors of Kosovar Albanian origin who won the elections last April, despite the boycott by the Serb minority, entered their new jobs.

[Violentos enfrentamientos en Kosovo entre serbios y Fuerzas de la OTAN dejan al menos 75 heridos]

The clashes occurred in three nearby municipalities to the border where, unlike the rest of the territory, the Serb community predominates. The Kosovar authorities they used tear gas to try to disperse the protests in the town of Zvecan, in which they were injured 52 civilians and 30 soldiers of the NATO-led multinational force in Kosovo, KFOR.

In all, 11 soldiers from the Italian contingent and 19 from the Hungarian contingent “suffered multiple injuries, including fractures and burns from improvised explosive incendiary devices,” according to a KFOR statement. a force deployed in the territory to guarantee compliance with Resolution 1244 of the United Nations Security Council that established peace in the region after the conflict of 1998 and 1999.

“These attacks are totally unacceptable. Violence must stop immediately. We call on all parties to refrain from actions that further exacerbate tensions and to engage in dialogue,” NATO denounced in its statement.

Following this episode -one of the most violent in recent years-, the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenbergannounced on Tuesday that he was going to reinforce Kosovo by sending an additional 700 soldiers to join the current contingent made up of 3,770 troops from 28 countries. He also warned that another battalion of reserve forces would be placed on alert to be deployed “if necessary.”

[Borrell exige a Serbia y Kosovo rebajar la tensión: “No podemos permitirnos otro conflicto en Europa”]

“Too much violence in Europe”

In the NATO chief’s view, these are “prudent steps” for KFOR to fulfill its peacekeeping mission. Along these lines, Stoltenberg urged Serbia and Kosovo to “de-escalate the situationrefrain from further irresponsible behavior and engage in the dialogue facilitated by the European Union, which is the only path to lasting peace.”

It means to the turbulent normalization process of the relations between both States promoted by the European Union that has not materialized yet in a firm agreement. In this sense, it was to be expected that Europe would also look with concern the last buzz of the Balkan hornet’s nest.

In fact, the high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, said on Monday that he intended to convene a high-level meeting to try to recover dialogue between the parties, according to the agency. efe.

“there’s been too much violence. Now we already have too much violence in Europe. We cannot afford another conflict, “said the head of European diplomacy, who expressed his hope that his” voice would be heard and that people would behave accordingly.