Parliament agrees to: Kosovo is building up its own armed forces

The Parliament in Kosovo has decided on Friday unanimously approved a bill package for the creation of a regular army. The Kosovo security forces (KSF) – currently a civil protection unit with 2500 man – are to be expanded within ten years to a force of 5,000 men and lighter armament. The Serbian list, the Serbian minority in Kosovo, took part with nine deputies to the Parliament session.

the realignment of The existing protection force ensures that the neighbours of Serbia for opposition and outrage. Belgrade sees as a result, the approximately 100,000 Serbs in the otherwise almost exclusively Albanian-populated Kosovo, existential threat. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had recently criticized the timing of the new legislation. The United States and the United Kingdom, however, support the efforts of Kosovo to the creation of its own armed forces.

The government in Pristina rejected the assertion that the future army would be a threat to the Serbs in Kosovo. It refers to the fact that many Serbs serve in the KSF. The armed forces are multi-ethnic and inclusive. In the North of Kosovo, a compact area of settlement of the Serbs, flagged on Friday, many residents their homes with Serbian flags. They wanted to give their displeasure with the Parliament’s decision in Prishtina.