NATO says reinforcements have started arriving in Kosovo after clashes

Reinforcements for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization peacekeeping force (nato) began to reach kosovo after last week’s disturbances in the north of the country, the alliance said on Monday (5).

Violence escalated after what the authorities of Kosovo put ethnic Albanian mayors in northern municipalities after being elected in a vote with a turnout of onlyats 3.5% of the population. Serbs, what form the majority at region, boycotted local elections.

You clashes wounded 30 members of the peacekeeping force nato known as KFOR, as well as 52 Serbian demonstrators.

“Around 500 servicemen from Turkey’s 65th Mechanized Infantry Brigade will form the bulk of the reinforcements,” said a spokeswoman for natoohat Lungescu.

A nato decided to send 700 additional peacekeepersatis for kosovo, reinforcing the contingent of 4 thousand, in response to the crisis. On Thursday (1st), the secretary general of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said what was ready to send more troops.

“A nato will remain vigilant. We will be there to ensure a safe and secure environment, and also to calm and de-escalate tensions,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers. NATO, in Oslo, Norway.

KFOR was created after a 1998-1999 uprising of mostly ethnic Albanians against the repressive Serbian regime.

kosovo gained independence recognizedatheatatofficially in 2008, but Serbia has rejected it and Serbs in the country’s north seek autonomy for their region under a 2013 deal what has not been implemented.