KFOR peace mission
Kosovo mandate allows expansion of Bundeswehr deployment
KFOR invaded Kosovo in 1999 following a NATO intervention against Serbia. photo
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
The upper limit of the mandate for the Bundeswehr mission in Kosovo is 400 soldiers. There are currently only 85 in use. Strack-Zimmermann speaks of “clear room for improvement”.
Strack-Zimmermann added that the committee receives regular reports on the status of things. “So if it becomes necessary, we will move more there.” The British government had already announced on Sunday that it would increase its contingent by 200 soldiers to 600.
Commando squad attacks Kosovar police officers
The new tensions were triggered by the attack by a 30-member, heavily armed Serbian commando squad on Kosovar police officers in northern Kosovo around a week ago. Three Serbian attackers and a Kosovar police officer were killed. In addition, Belgrade recently deployed Serbian troops around Kosovo.
Serbian paramilitaries who attacked Kosovo police officers a week ago are said to have previously trained on Serbian territory. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced this in the short message service Platform X (formerly Twitter). He also posted drone footage there to show these exercises. “The attacks (on Kosovo police officers) occurred with the full support and planning of the Serbian state,” Kurti wrote.
Drone footage of Serbian paramilitary training
The Serbian aggressors took the drone footage themselves and Kosovo’s police confiscated them along with weapons, explained Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla, according to the Kosovo newspaper “Koha Ditore”. The exercises took place at the Serbian military base Kopaonik near the border and in Pasuljanske Livade, one of the largest military training areas in Serbia. In addition, exercises took place on a property that belongs to the Kosovo Serb politician and businessman Milan Radoicic, who claimed responsibility for the attack on the Kosovar police officers.
The new tensions between Serbia and Kosovo were triggered by the attack a week ago by a 30-strong, heavily armed Serbian commando group on Kosovar police officers in the town of Banjska near Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. Three Serbian attackers and a Kosovar police officer were killed.
Split from Serbia in 1999 with NATO help
Kosovo, which is now almost exclusively inhabited by Albanians, seceded from Serbia in 1999 with NATO help and declared independence in 2008. More than 100 countries, including Germany, recognize independence, but not Serbia, which is reclaiming its former province.