Serbia’s Vucic seeks NATO approval to send forces to north Kosovo - Al Jazeera English

Serbian president said helium was nether ‘no illusion’ that NATO would hold to his petition amid hostility successful bluish Kosovo.

Serbia volition inquire NATO peacekeepers to fto it deploy Serbian subject and constabulary to volatile bluish Kosovo, though it believes determination is nary accidental of the petition being approved, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said.

The European Union’s overseas argumentation main Josep Borrell warned past period of the imaginable for “escalation and violence” aft exigency talks betwixt Kosovo and Serbia failed to resoluteness their long-running quality implicit car licence plates utilized by the taste Serb number successful Kosovo.

The connection by Belgrade to nonstop its forces to the erstwhile Serbian state — and present autarkic Kosovo — could escalate already seething tensions successful the Balkan states.

Vucic told a quality league connected Saturday successful Belgrade that helium would marque the petition to deploy Serbian forces successful a missive to the commandant of NATO’s KFOR mission, the alliance’s peacekeeping unit successful Kosovo.

“We volition petition from the KFOR commandant to guarantee the deployment of service and constabulary unit of the Republic of Serbia to the territory of Kosovo and Metohija,” Vucic said, adding that helium had “no illusions” that the petition would beryllium accepted.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic [File: Bernadett Szabo/Reuters]

The petition to NATO would beryllium the archetypal clip Belgrade has sought to deploy troops successful Kosovo nether the provisions of a UN Security Council solution which ended a 1998-1999 warfare and successful which NATO interceded against Serbia to support Albanian-majority Kosovo.

The solution said Serbia could deploy up to 1,000 military, constabulary and customs officials to Orthodox Christian spiritual sites, areas with Serb majorities and borderline crossings, if specified a deployment is approved by KFOR’s commander. At the clip of the resolution, Kosovo, which declared independency successful 2008, was inactive recognised arsenic portion of Serbia.

Belgrade, supported by Russia and China, has refused to recognise Kosovo’s statehood.

NATO inactive has astir 3,700 peacekeepers stationed successful the erstwhile Serbian state to forestall unit betwixt taste Albanians and Serbs.

‘Destabilise the region’

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s bureau said the determination by Serbia would beryllium “an enactment of aggression” and an denotation of “Serbia’s tendencies to destabilise the region”.

Vucic’s remarks travel aft a spate of incidents and increasing hostility betwixt Kosovo authorities and Kosovo Serbs who represent a bulk successful bluish areas of Kosovo.

On Saturday, Kosovo Serbs exchanged gunfire with constabulary officers successful the volatile north, and Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani announced that section elections scheduled for December 18 successful the country would beryllium delayed until adjacent year.

The gunfire broke retired aft Serbs blocked main roads successful the bluish portion to protestation against the apprehension of a erstwhile subordinate of the Kosovo constabulary who discontinue his station past period on with different taste Serb officials.

Authorities successful Pristina said erstwhile policeman Dejan Pantic was arrested for allegedly attacking predetermination committee offices, constabulary officers and predetermination officials connected Tuesday.

Serb mayors successful bluish Kosovo municipalities, along with section judges and immoderate 600 constabulary officers, resigned past month successful protestation implicit a authorities determination to regenerate Belgrade-issued car licence plates with ones issued by Pristina.

Police officers region their uniforms successful the municipality of Zvecan, Kosovo, successful November 2022 arsenic members of Kosovo’s taste Serb number resigned en masse from their posts to protestation the dismissal of a elder Serb constabulary serviceman who did not respect the Kosovo government’s determination to alteration conveyance licence plates [File: Bojan Slavkovic/AP Photo]

Police said the blockade connected Saturday halted traffic, and they were forced to adjacent 2 borderline crossings betwixt Kosovo and Serbia. Later, they said they came nether occurrence successful respective locations adjacent to a water bordering Serbia. There were nary contiguous reports of injuries.

In an effort to defuse tensions, Kosovar President Osmani announced the postponement until April 23 of section elections successful the bluish municipalities of Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and Leposavic.

The EU has besides warned some Serbia and Kosovo to resoluteness their disputes peacefully and to normalise relations if they privation to beryllium considered eligible for rank successful the bloc.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies