NATO-led troops increase presence in Kosovo, police arrest 7
Associated Press, Friday, September 22, 2006 5:15 AM
PRISTINA, Serbia-The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo said Friday it had increased its presence throughout the province after recent bomb attacks that raised ethnic tensions as the U.N.-led negotiations on its status were reaching a final stage.
"We have increased our presence all over Kosovo which is more a show of force. We don't want more bomb attacks," said Lt. Col. Walter-Hubert Schmidt, spokesman for the 16,000-strong KFOR peacekeeping force deployed in Kosovo.
More peacekeeping troops could be seen patrolling the province, according to the spokesman. He added that there was, however, no request to increase the overall size of the force.
Kosovo police also said they had arrested seven Albanians considered suspects in the March 2004 anti-Serb riots that killed 19 people, displaced thousands and damaged hundreds of Serb homes and medieval churches and monasteries.
Police gave no details on their identities or where they came from.
As Kosovo enters the final phase of U.N.-brokered talks, an explosion that injured four Serbs and three other bombings that damaged cars in the past week have raised ethnic tension in the province administered by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO air strikes drove out Serb troops.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, seek independence. While Serbs are willing to grant Kosovo broad autonomy, they see it as the heart of their ancient homeland and want it to remain a part of Serbian territory.
The six-nation Contact Group, made up of the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Russia, met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday and asked the chief U.N. envoy for Kosovo, former Finnish president Maarti Ahtisaari "to prepare a comprehensive proposal for a status settlement."
Ahtisaari is due to brief the U.N. Security Council on Friday.
PRISTINA, Serbia-The NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo said Friday it had increased its presence throughout the province after recent bomb attacks that raised ethnic tensions as the U.N.-led negotiations on its status were reaching a final stage.
"We have increased our presence all over Kosovo which is more a show of force. We don't want more bomb attacks," said Lt. Col. Walter-Hubert Schmidt, spokesman for the 16,000-strong KFOR peacekeeping force deployed in Kosovo.
More peacekeeping troops could be seen patrolling the province, according to the spokesman. He added that there was, however, no request to increase the overall size of the force.
Kosovo police also said they had arrested seven Albanians considered suspects in the March 2004 anti-Serb riots that killed 19 people, displaced thousands and damaged hundreds of Serb homes and medieval churches and monasteries.
Police gave no details on their identities or where they came from.
As Kosovo enters the final phase of U.N.-brokered talks, an explosion that injured four Serbs and three other bombings that damaged cars in the past week have raised ethnic tension in the province administered by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO air strikes drove out Serb troops.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, seek independence. While Serbs are willing to grant Kosovo broad autonomy, they see it as the heart of their ancient homeland and want it to remain a part of Serbian territory.
The six-nation Contact Group, made up of the U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Russia, met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday and asked the chief U.N. envoy for Kosovo, former Finnish president Maarti Ahtisaari "to prepare a comprehensive proposal for a status settlement."
Ahtisaari is due to brief the U.N. Security Council on Friday.
posted by Snezana @ 07:26
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