Kosovo yesterday passed laws to build an army, asserting its statehood in a move that has inflamed tensions with Serbia, which does not recognize the former province’s independence.
The laws are to double the size of a small crisis-response outfit, the Kosovo Security Force (KSF), and set out a national defense mandate for a professional army of 5,000 troops.
The assembly still needs to approve a final law that lays out the KSF’s organizational structure. The first two laws were passed unanimously as minority Serb lawmakers boycotted the session.
The vote is to delight many Kosovo Albanians, who are ready to celebrate the army as a new pillar of their independence, which was declared in 2008.
While it is a mostly a symbolic flaunting of Kosovo’s sovereignty, Serbia has castigated the move as a threat to regional stability.
In particular, Belgrade has sounded the alarm over the safety of 120,000 Serbs still living in Kosovo, mainly in the north near their contested border.
“We do not want a Kosovo army here,” said Marko Djusic, a Serb resident of Dren village near the border.
Kosovo and Serbia have struggled to make progress in faltering EU-led talks to normalize their ties — a condition for either to eventually join the bloc.
Serbia has blocked Kosovo from various international organizations, including the UN, and also lobbied foreign governments to revoke their recognition of its statehood.
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