KFOR demands responsibility for the wounding of over 90 of its members a year ago in northern Kosovo

2024-05-29 13:01:19, Kosova & Bota CNA

KFOR demands responsibility for the wounding of over 90 of its members a year

The peacekeeping mission of NATO in Kosovo, KFOR, called on Wednesday that the attackers against its members a year ago in the north of Kosovo, be held responsible.

These calls were made on the anniversary of the violent riots of May 29, when over 90 members of KFOR were injured during clashes with groups of Serbian protesters who opposed the sending of Albanian mayors of northern municipalities to their offices after the elections of April 23 of the year 2023 that were boycotted by Serbian political parties.

In a press release, the KFOR mission in Kosovo quotes its commander Ozkan Ulutas as saying that these attacks were unprovoked and completely unacceptable.

"The courage of (KFOR members) helped stabilize the situation in the area and prevent a further escalation of violence," KFOR commander Ozkan Uluta? is quoted as saying.

The KFOR mission said that after the violence, NATO increased its presence on the ground with an additional thousand forces.

"We have increased KFOR patrols in the north of Kosovo, tripling them, including patrols along the administrative border line. This has been the largest reinforcement of the contingent in Kosovo in a decade and this shows that NATO is ready to maintain peace", says the communique of this mission.

The developments of a year ago fueled tensions with Serbia, which raised the level of readiness of its military troops, as well as the harsh reaction of Western diplomacy, which condemned the actions of the Kosovo authorities.

The European Union imposed punitive measures against the government of Kosovo due to the tensions in the north, while it demanded the fulfillment of several conditions for their departure, including the holding of new elections in the north of the country.

The government agreed to hold new elections, through a vote to dismiss the current mayors, which failed last month due to a boycott of the vote by members of the Serbian community.

The authorities in Kosovo have called on the European Union to remove the punitive measures against it after fulfilling the obligations for holding the voting process for the removal of the presidents in the north of the country.

The officials of the European Union say that they are preparing a report regarding the fulfillment of the conditions by the authorities in Kosovo for the removal of the measures.

"The measures were decided as a result of the uncoordinated and unilateral actions of Kosovo, which escalated the situation and did not help in expansion. The measures were set in order to motivate the Kosovo authorities to take steps for expansion. Of course, everything that happens on the ground and has a negative impact on the extension efforts is being taken into account and is being included in the report," said the European Union's spokesman, Peter Stano, during a press conference the day before.

The opposition parties have criticized the government that with its actions it has worsened relations with international allies, while they demand the resignation of the government and the dissolution of the parliament to pave the way for new elections and the creation of a new government that would enable the improvement of relations with Western allies./ VOA