NATO troops conduct synchronized patrols with Serbia-Montenegro forces on Kosovo border

Associated Press, Jun 30, 2005 10:31 AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo were conducting synchronized patrol's with Serbia and Montenegro forces along Kosovo borders on Thursday, NATO said in a statement.

The patrols were meant to thwart illegal activities along the border, according to the statement released after a meeting between the top NATO commander in Kosovo, Lt. Gen. Yves de Kermabon, and Serbia-Montenegro Defense Minister Prvoslav Davinic.

The officials also agreed to conduct a joint helicopter medical evacuation exercise inside Serbia and Montenegro in the next weeks, NATO said.

Joint patrols are a sign of improving relations between the NATO peacekeepers and forces of Serbia and Montenegro, six years after the alliance bomb Serb forces to stop their crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo, which officially remains a province within Serbia and Montenegro, has been administered by the United Nations and patrolled by NATO peacekeepers since 1999. The status of the province remains disputed, with its ethnic Albanian majority wanting independence and Serbia insisting it remain within Serbia and Montenegro, the successor to the former Yugoslavia.

Talks to resolve Kosovo's status were expected later this year, provided the province makes progress on internationally set standards on the rule of law, rights minorities and democratization.