NATO ready to step in Kosovo if situation remains same

• NATO warns that tensions are rising in Kosovo’s northern communities.
• Kosovo Force Pristina (KFOR) is closely watching the situation.
• Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo stopped two important border crossings with Serbia on Sunday.

NATO-led forces are ready to act in northern Kosovo if regional stability is compromised. NATO warned in a statement Sunday that tensions are rising in Kosovo’s northern communities, and that Kosovo Force Pristina (KFOR) was closely watching the situation.

KFOR, the NATO-led peacekeeping force, was established in 1999 as a result of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which was passed in response to the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

Tensions are rising again as a result of a new government policy requiring people entering Kosovo with Serbian IDs to replace them with a temporary identification during their stay.

To protest the new rule, ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo – a partially recognised Balkan state bordering by Serbia — stopped two important border crossings with Serbia on Sunday.

NATO stated that KFOR was closely watching the situation and was “prepared to intervene if stability is jeopardized.”

“KFOR maintains a visible and agile posture on the ground, and the KFOR Commander is in contact with all of his main interlocutors, including the representatives of the Kosovo security organizations and the Serbian of Defense,” NATO said in a statement.”

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