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New general assumes command over Kosovo peacekeeping mission
Sep 1, 2010, 15:29 GMT
Pristina - German General Erhard Buehler on Wednesday took command over KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in the former Serbian province of Kosovo, replacing a fellow German, General Markus Bentler.
The change of command was conducted as a part of the normal one-year rotation of the KFOR command.
KFOR was deployed in 1999, immediately after NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days to force the withdrawal of its security forces from Kosovo, whose population is mostly Albanian.
Supported by big Western powers, Kosovo declared independence in 2008. KFOR, meanwhile, reduced its presence from 50,000 in 1999 to the current level of about 10,000 troops.
'KFOR has become much smaller, but is still very capable and ready for any challenge,' Buehler said at the handover ceremony in Pristina.
The head of NATO's Joint Forces Command in Naples, US Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, said that the reduction of the peacekeeping presence was proportional to improved security in Kosovo.
Serbia has vowed not to recognize Kosovo's independence and to fight its secession by diplomatic means.
Still, the potential for violence in the former province remains high amid mistrust and enmity between Albanians and Serbs. The latter comprise only 10 per cent of the population but are a majority in a part of northern Kosovo.
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