BELGRADE – The Kosovo government on Saturday announced it requested that Serbia immediately withdraw all military units from the Kosovo border.
“The military units of the Serbian army Friday deployed their military and gendarmerie capacities to 48 forward operating bases located along the border line of Kosovo, several kilometres deep within Serbian territory. This deployment also includes anti-aircraft systems and heavy artillery,” the government said in a statement.
It argued that the deployment threatens the territorial integrity of Kosovo and the international military presence in the country, reported Anadolu Agency.
“We have expressed our concern many times about the existence of these 48 bases of the Serbian army and gendarmerie (on the borderline) and emphasised that these bases serve to support the already proven fact of a possible military attack against Kosovo.
“We call on Serbian institutions and (Serbian) President (Aleksandar) Vucic to immediately withdraw all military units from the Kosovo borderline and to close and demilitarise 28 forward military bases and 20 gendarmerie bases that pose a permanent threat to our country,” it said.
Kosovo police announced it seized weapons Saturday after searches were carried out on the escape route used by a Serbian armed group that attacked and fought with police in Kosovo on Sept 24.
Items seized included rocket launchers, heavy weapons, and military equipment like bulletproof vests.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed concerns about Serbian military activity on the Kosovo border in a telephone call with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Friday
A fight broke out last Sunday in the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo near the Serbian border, a region with a large ethnic Serb population, where a gunfight left a police officer dead and another injured.
The area has been the scene of unrest since April, when local ethnic Serbs boycotted elections in northern Kosovo, followed by protests against the election of ethnic Albanian mayors.
Albanians are by far the largest ethnic group in Kosovo, followed by Serbs, with about half living in the country’s north.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and gained recognition from many countries, including Turkiye. But Belgrade has never recognised Kosovo and claims that its territory is still part of Serbia.- Bernama
