Stoltenberg: Kosovo and Serbia should avoid inflammatory rhetoric

2023-09-07 20:28:58, Kosova & Bota CNA

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that it is essential to avoid further escalation of the situation in northern Kosovo while calling on Pristina and Belgrade to avoid inflammatory rhetoric and Kosovo to coordinate with international mechanisms for actions in the north .

He made these comments during a joint conference with the President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, after a meeting in which the situation in the north of Kosovo was discussed where at the end of May over 90 members of the peacekeeping forces were injured in clashes with Serbian protesters opposing the implementation of the results of local elections boycotted by Serbian parties.

"We welcome the latest steps taken by Prishtina to reduce tensions, including the reduction of the number of special police in the north and plans to organize new municipal elections. But it is essential to avoid further escalation, therefore I call on all parties to avoid inflammatory rhetoric and act responsibly and in line with their commitment", he said .

The President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani said that the region needs NATO as a guarantor of peace and defender of democracy. She said that because Kosovo is a historic success of NATO, there are malevolent forces so determined to challenge and damage it.

"Kosovo and the region risk becoming a flashpoint due to Russia's malign influence and its destabilizing expansionist agenda. Kosovo is experiencing repeated illegal foreign interventions and continuous obstruction of its legitimate authority and sovereignty in the north of the country. This in many cases has led to aggression", she said, underlining that the north of Kosovo has been and will continue to be an integral part of Kosovo.

"We will not allow the north of Kosovo to become a battlefield for achieving the hegemonic ambitions of the regional autocrats. Instead, we are committed to the further integration of local communities, preserving constitutional rights and guarantees and providing them with socio-economic opportunities to prosper," she said .

Secretary Stolteberg said that in accordance with Pristina's commitment from 2013, any deployment of Security Forces in the north of Kosovo requires the consent of KFOR. He said that he expects timely and meaningful advice for any action of the Kosovo police that may affect the security environment, while he emphasized that this is not a new criterion but is the position of the NATO mission for a long time.

"Any landing of special forces requires the approval of KFOR and there is a need for close consultation between the authorities of Pristina and KFOR for any engagement that may affect our position and security in Kosovo," he said, referring to an agreement between the former Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the former Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, that the Kosovo Security Force cannot enter the north inhabited by a majority of Serbs "without a prior agreement" of the peacekeeping forces of NATO.

"Although the 2013 agreement focuses only on the Kosovo Security Forces, the Kosovo police has been operating and exercising its constitutional mandate throughout the territory of Kosovo for more than two decades," said President Vjosa Osmani .

Mr. Stolteberg said that NATO strongly supports the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and welcomes the meeting announced by the European Union for next week between the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, and the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic.

"This requires patience, consistency and compromise. This is also the opportunity for Kosovo to show that it is a responsible actor that works constructively for the benefit of Euro-Atlantic security", he said.

President Vjosa Osmani said that Kosovo remained committed to dialogue with Serbia and the fulfillment of its obligations, but asked the mediators for a balanced approach between the parties, as a prerequisite for the success of the process./ VOA