NATO says force reduction in Kosovo won't hurt security (News Feature)

By Thomas Brey Feb 10, 2011, 15:36 GMT

Pristina - NATO is halving its once formidable peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, but the remaining 5,000 soldiers are enough to keep the peace in the once volatile Serbian province, the commander of the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) said Thursday.

KFOR was deployed in 1999 after fighting between Serbs and Kosovo's Albanian rebels. The territory declared independence in 2008.

'The situation in Kosovo is calm and stable,' German General Erhard Buehler told the German Press Agency dpa.

NATO has been scaling back its troop numbers in the Kosovo mission. The latest reduction, due to be completed by March, will cut the force to one-tenth of its original size of 50,000.

What was once a high-risk military mission is now involved mainly in law enforcement. KFOR's biggest challenge is the northern region, where the predominately Serb population rejects the idea of an independent state and refuses to recognize the central government in Pristina.

Belgrade has encouraged Kosovo's Serbs to establish their own parallel government and refuse to cooperate with EULEX, the European Union's law-enforcement mission.

Since EULEX is ill-equipped to police the Serb-populated areas, KFOR has assumed that task, with around-the-clock traffic patrols.

'By now we have a pretty good overview of criminal activities in northern Kosovo,' Buehler said.

KFOR is also involved in crime-fighting in the tense, ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, as well as in Albanian parts of the country. Poverty and unemployment drive crime in both ethnic communities.

'These are the coming problems that we must cut at the root,' said Buehler, 55.

But northern Kosovo remains KFOR's top priority. Hostility towards the central authorities, KFOR and EULEX creates a fertile ground for crime and smuggling. The 350-kilometre border with Serbia remains porous, despite KFOR patrols.

KFOR also plays an important role in protecting cultural and religious sites.

In 2003, dozens of Serb shrines were damaged in the wake of rioting by Albanians throughout Kosovo that left nearly 30 people dead. KFOR has sternly warned that a repeat of such violence would be met with deadly force.

Buehler said he expects KFOR to continue guarding two medieval Serb monasteries near Pec, in western Kosovo, 'for years to come.'

Buehler added that the training of Kosovo's own security force is among KFOR's crucial tasks.

But he admits that the KFOR alone cannot resolve Kosovo's ethnic and economic problems.

'For that, we need a clear political outlook for the whole region,' he said.

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