Awwal 07, 1432, Feb 10, 2011, SPA - NATO is halving its once formidable peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, but the remaining 5,000 soldiers are enough to keep the peace in the once volatile Serbian province, dpa quoted the commander of the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR) as saying on Thursday. KFOR was deployed in 1999 after fighting between Serbs and Kosovo's Albanian rebels. The territory declared independence in 2008. "The situation in Kosovo is calm and stable," German General Erhard Buehler told the German Press Agency dpa. NATO has been scaling back its troop numbers in the Kosovo mission. The latest reduction, due to be completed by March, will cut the force to one-tenth of its original size of 50,000. What was once a high-risk military mission is now involved mainly in law enforcement. KFOR's biggest challenge is the northern region, where the predominately Serb population rejects the idea of an independent state and refuses to recognize the central government in Pristina. Belgrade has encouraged Kosovo's Serbs to establish their own parallel government and refuse to cooperate with EULEX, the European Union's law-enforcement mission. Since EULEX is ill-equipped to police the Serb-populated areas, KFOR has assumed that task, with around-the-clock traffic patrols. "By now we have a pretty good overview of criminal activities in northern Kosovo," Buehler said. KFOR is also involved in crime-fighting in the tense, ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, as well as in Albanian parts of the country. Poverty and unemployment drive crime in both ethnic communities. -- SPA
