The U.S. peacekeeping troops in Kosovo are well prepared and ready to prevent violence in the ethnically divided north, where recent armed clashes have occurred, resulting in the death of a policeman, according to the commander in an interview with Reuters.
NATO has increased its presence with an additional 1,000 troops following the violence in September, during which the policeman was killed in a shootout between Kosovo police and gunmen who entered from Serbia.
There are over 570 U.S. soldiers serving as part of the NATO-led mission, which has a total of around 4,500 troops deployed.
Colonel Ross Walker, commander of U.S. soldiers from the Texas Army National Guard, stated, “We are well prepared, well trained, and equipped to react to anything that could happen here right now.” He added, “Even though we stand ready to react to anything, our wish and desire is to always do things through a peaceful dialogue first.”
Some of the U.S. soldiers are stationed at Nothing Hill camp near the town of Leposavic in the north and patrol routes linking Kosovo and Serbia.
They park their unarmored white trucks near the border with Serbia and then walk close to the metal bars that until recently held signs indicating the border line between Kosovo and Serbia.
They patrol on foot and carry only pistols, indicating that things have been calm recently.
Despite this, Prime Minister Albin Kurti of Kosovo stated in December that armed men backed by Serbian security agencies were being trained to launch more attacks in his country, a claim denied by Serbia.
There are concerns that the tensions over Kosovo’s decision to ban the use of the Serbian dinar could further fuel tensions in the north, where around 50,000 Serbs refuse to recognize the Pristina government and see Belgrade as their capital.
Pristina’s central bank announced on Feb. 1 that the Serbian dinar being used to pay pensions, social benefits, and finance education and healthcare in Serb areas was illegal.
Kurti explained that the measure was intended to stop cash from crossing the border in bags and instead move money through bank accounts and then withdraw it in officially recognized euros.
Local media reported that a white van carrying cash in dinars was stopped at the border entering Kosovo, raising concerns among the Serb population about whether they would receive their pension payments.
Western countries have urged Kosovo to postpone the implementation of the decision to ban the dinar, angering the United States, Kosovo’s main ally.
“If we are not treated as a partner, we may not treat him (Kurti) as a partner,” Jim O’Brien, the U.S. State Department’s Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, told Voice of America this week.
(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Ivana Sekularac and Hugh Lawson)
