Serbia considering military intervention in Kosovo following army formation

This is an article translated by Deutsche Welle.

Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo rose on Wednesday, shortly after Kosovo is expected to vote on the formation of an armed army.

Serbian Prime Minister Anna Brnabiq told reporters that Belgrade is concerned that a regular army in Kosovo that most residents have Albanians could be used to expel the remaining Serbs from the country's north. This could experience, she said, a military intervention of Serbia.

“I hope we never want to use it [the army], but eventually this has become one of the options on the table because we don't want to experience this... ethnic cleansing,” said Brnabiq.

The Kosovo Parliament will vote on the transformation of the 4 thousand-strong defence forces on December 14th.

NATO has also spoken on the issue, with Secretary General Stoltenberg warning Kosovo that this move is not in the right time and could bring back “serious reforms”.

Kosovo has relied on its security in NATO forces since the end of the war and elsewhere. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, which Belgrade refuses to recognise.

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj denied the idea that the army would be used against the Serb-populated north as the pure <x0ndran”, Periscopi follows.

“Army will not be for the country's north;” he said, adding: “Army will be used to help NATO in Afghanistan of Iraq.”

Even if parliament in the Kosovo capital voted in favour of the army, this process would still take many years.

Moreover, Balkan analysts said that any action by the strong Serbian Army with 28 thousand members against Kosovo is highly unlikely to consider this country's aspirations to join the European Union.

Kosovo, as Periscope submits, also wants to join the EU, but Brussels has said that both countries should normalise relations and resolve territorial differences as a condition for progress towards EU membership.

Tensions on the rise

The already tense relations between Kosovo and Serbia deteriorated even more at the end of November, when Pristina decided to impose a 100% tax on products imported from Serbia.

Kosovo justified that move by saying it was revenge for Serbia's efforts to keep Kosovo out of global organisations, including Interpol, the international police body. /Periscopi