After a fatal incident
“Clearly room for improvement”: traffic light politicians open to more Bundeswehr soldiers in Kosovo
Soldiers from the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force walk through the town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo
© STRINGER / AFP
As tensions between Serbia and Kosovo increase, politicians from the traffic light parties are now in favor of sending more Bundeswehr soldiers to the crisis area. NATO had already announced that it would station another 600 British soldiers in Kosovo.
Hofreiter’s parliamentary group colleague Philip Krämer said that Germany should also examine the extent to which additional Bundeswehr forces can be made available within the framework of the current mandate. Foreign politician Adis Ahmetovic from the ranks of the SPD called for the KFOR mandate to be given more armed forces.
The extended mandate calls for 400 emergency services
NATO recently announced an increase in its KFOR troops after tensions between Serbia and Kosovo increased. According to a spokesman for the defense alliance, around 600 additional British soldiers will be stationed in Kosovo, and other allies will also increase their contingents. According to “Spiegel”, the Bundeswehr currently has 85 soldiers stationed in Kosovo. The mandate, which was last extended by the Bundestag in May, provides for up to 400 emergency services.
“So there is still room for improvement without having to change the mandate,” said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag, to “Spiegel”. The Defense Committee is keeping an eye on the Kosovo issue. “So if it becomes necessary, we will move more there.”
The Union faction accused the traffic light government of being complicit in the escalation in the dispute between Belgrade and Pristina. “The traffic light has unnecessarily given up Germany’s long-standing and successful leadership role in the Western Balkans,” its defense policy spokesman Florian Hahn (CSU) told the magazine.
Worst incident in years in Kosovo
A week ago on Sunday, deadly clashes occurred in northern Kosovo, the worst incident in the region for years. A police officer was killed in an attack on a Kosovo police patrol. Later, around 30 armed men barricaded themselves in a monastery. Three armed Serbs were killed in exchanges of fire with police.
The vast majority of Kosovo’s 1.8 million residents are ethnic Albanians. There are also 120,000 Serbs who live mainly in the north of the country. In 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia, but Belgrade does not recognize it.