Romania sends troops to bolster NATO Kosovo force
by AFP Staff Writers
Brussels (AFP) Oct 3, 2023

Romania on Tuesday said it was sending some 100 troops to bolster NATO's peacekeeping force in Kosovo after mounting tensions with Serbia.

Romania's NATO ambassador Dan Necalescu wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Bucharest was adding a "contingent at company level" to the KFOR peacekeepers after a decision by the Western alliance to bolster the deployment.

NATO member Britain last week said it was also deploying some 600 troops in Kosovo to reinforce the KFOR.

The moves came after an armed attack by gunmen that killed a Kosovo police officer on September 24. Kosovo's government has accused Belgrade of backing the entire operation.

The United States said Tuesday that Serbia has begun withdrawing troops from the Kosovo border after having warned of an unprecedented build-up.

KFOR is Kosovo's top security institution and had already bolstered its forces to 4,500 troops after violent clashes in May that left over 90 peacekeepers injured.

Serbia refuses to recognise the independence of its former southern province, which has an Albanian majority, over two decades after a deadly war between Kosovo independence guerrillas and Serbian forces, which ended following a NATO bombing campaign.

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