NATO to Remain in Kosovo

PRENSA LATINA (CUBA)

 

Brussels, Nov 18 (Prensa Latina) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will remain in Kosovo for as long as necessary, NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told La Libre Belgique daily.

 

In an interview released Friday, the NATO official said this presence is essential to guarantee the negotiation process on the territory´s future political status, in which NATO wants to participate, although it has not determined how.

 

De Hoop said that eventually NATO will plan a strategy for withdrawal, but this will take some time, as there are currently 17,000 troops from 35 NATO member countries in Kosovo.

 

Kosovo province is still formally Serbian, but has been administered by the UN since June 1999 when Belgrade agreed to withdraw politically and militarily in exchange for a cessation of NATO bombings.

 

NATO took upon itself the right to intervene in the conflict between the Serbian government and the Albanese separatists of Kosovo origin.