Kosovo’s NATO-led peacekeepers beef up positions

PRISTINA: Troops from the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo on Tuesday placed metal fences and barbed wire barriers to beef up positions in a northern town following clashes with ethnic Serbs there that left 30 international soldiers wounded.

The peacekeepers sealed off the municipality building in

Zvecan where unrest on Monday sent tensions soaring and raised fears of instability and flareup in the Balkan hotspot amid increased Western efforts to resolve a long-simmering dispute.

Kosovo is a former province of Serbia whose 2008 declaration of independence Belgrade does not recognize. Ethnic

Albanians make up most of the population, but Kosovo has a restive Serb minority in the north of the country bordering Serbia.

The United States and most European Union nations have recognized Kosovo’s independence from Serbia while Russia and China have sided with Belgrade. China on Tuesday expressed its support for Serbia’s efforts to “safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity” and Moscow has repeatedly criticized Western policies in the dispute.

Tensions first increased over the past weekend, after ethnic Albanian officials elected in votes overwhelmingly boycotted by Serbs entered municipal buildings. When the Serbs tried to block them, Kosovo police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

In response, Serbia put the country’s military on the highest state of alert and sent more troops to the border with Kosovo. The Serbs protested again on Monday, insisting both ethnic Albanian mayors and Kosovo police must leave northern Kosovo. The flareup has triggered a flurry of international efforts to calm the situation. The United States and the EU recently have stepped up efforts to negotiate an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo, fearing instability as Russia’s war rages in Ukraine.