© Reuters. British troops a part of the NATO reinforcements patrol on the Kosovo-Serbia border in Jarinje, Kosovo November 24, 2023. REUTERS/Valdrin Xhemaj
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By Fatos Bytyci
JARINJE, Kosovo (Reuters) – British troops are patrolling the Kosovo-Serbia border as a part of a NATO peacekeeping presence being bolstered amid concern that the previous wartime foes may return to open battle following a collection of violent incidents in latest months.
The North Atlantic Treaty Group despatched tons of of further forces to Kosovo from Britain and Romania after a battle between the authorities and armed Serbs holed up in a monastery turned a quiet village in northern Kosovo right into a warfare zone on Sept. 24.
One police officer and three gunmen had been killed within the village of Banjska in what was seen because the worst violence since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
Kosovo accused Serbia of offering monetary and sensible assist for the gunmen, which Belgrade denies.
NATO has despatched 1,000 additional troops to the area, bringing its presence there to 4,500 peacekeepers from 27 nations.
British troopers are actually being deployed in 18-hour shifts in freezing situations to ensure no weapons or armed teams enter Kosovo.
“Currently we are here on a routine patrol, which consists of understanding patterns of life, gaining intelligence on any illegal or suspicious activity that then gets fed back to KFOR (NATO mission) and higher,” Lieutenant Joss Gaddie from the British Military informed Reuters on the border with Serbia.
Throughout a go to on Monday to the western Balkans, NATO Secretary-Normal Jens Stoltenberg stated the group is reviewing whether or not a extra everlasting improve of forces was wanted “to ensure that this doesn’t spiral out of control and creates a new violent conflict in Kosovo or in the wider region.”
Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority, declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after a guerrilla rebellion and a 1999 NATO intervention.
Round 5 % of the inhabitants in Kosovo are ethnic Serbs, of which half dwell within the north and refuse to acknowledge Kosovo independence and see Belgrade as their capital. They’ve usually clashed with Kosovo police and worldwide peacekeepers.
For greater than twenty years many ethnic Serbs have refused to register automobiles with Kosovo automobile plates, utilizing their very own system as an alternative which is seen as unlawful by Pristina.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s authorities has set a December 1 deadline for round 10,000 motorists to register their automobiles with Kosovo numbers or face heavy penalties. The same request sparked violence final yr.
