Serbia decreases number of troops near Kosovo

Following a gunfight in northern Kosovo that left four people dead, Serbia boosted the number of troops stationed there but has now pulled back some of them, according to army commander General Milan Mojsilovic on Monday. Since Kosovo police engaged some 30 armed Serbs who had barricaded themselves inside a Serbian Orthodox monastery on September 24, near the northern Kosovo village of Banjska, tensions between Belgrade and Pristina have risen sharply. One police officer and three assailants were killed in that incident. After a guerrilla rebellion and a 1999 NATO bombing campaign that drove out Serb security forces, the mostly Albanian Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, sparking fresh international anxiety for the stability of the region. “Serbia had deployed 8,350 troops near (the border) … with Kosovo, … and reduced them to 4,500 at the moment,” Mojsilovic said. He said that the army presence had “reverted to normal” in the so-called Ground Safety Zone, a 5 km (3 km) wide area within Serbia along the Kosovo border. According to Mojsilovic, Serbia has not “formally raised the level of readiness” of its 22,500-member army. Serbia was urged to reduce the number of troops stationed at the border by Kosovo on Saturday, while the US said it was keeping an eye on Serbia’s destabilising military buildup on Friday. Pristina accused Serbia of giving the group that attacked Kosovo police funding and logistical support, which Belgrade rejected. According to Mojsilovic, Milan Radoicic, a politician from the Kosovo Serb community who had acknowledged taking part in the fighting in Banjska, had not participated in army training. In the northern part of Kosovo, there are some 50,000 Serbs who consider Belgrade to be their capital and who do not acknowledge Pristina’s institutions. Although they have frequently clashed with the Kosovo police and foreign forces, the bloodshed on Sunday was the worst in years. NATO announced on Friday that it had “authorised additional forces to address the current situation” despite the fact that it still maintains 4,500 troops in Kosovo. (With agency inputs)