Kosovo crea sus fuerzas armadas

Kosovo establishes armed forces, prompting unease in Serbia


By our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online      

Pristina (dpa) - Kosovo on Tuesday established its own armed forces, replacing a lightly armed policing organization founded four years ago, officials confirmed.

"Today we are forming the Armed Forces of Kosovo," said Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, whose government also made changes to the Ministry of Security, renaming it the Defense Ministry.

The region‘s nascent armed forces will include 5,000 soldiers and 3,000 reserves.

Kosovo‘s policing organization, the Kosovo Security Force, included 2,500 troops and was overseen by a NATO-led peacekeeping mission on the ground since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999.

Kosovo‘s move to establish its owned armed forces came under fire in Serbia, where caretaker Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said that he had received guarantees from NATO that Kosovo soldiers would not enter Serb enclaves in the north.

Kosovo is a former province of Serbia with a majority Albanian population. The region declared its independence in 2008.

Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo as a sovereign entity but has agreed to normalize ties with it under EU mediation.