NATO boosts security in Kosovo's tense north
NOVO SELO, Kosovo: NATO's commander in Kosovo's tense north says he has heightened security days before the European Union's police mission takes over policing from the United Nations.
French Brig. Gen. Michel Yakovleff says he will be "more ready than usual" when the EU's first police officers start working on Tuesday. Yakovleff declined to give details about movements of the peacekeepers, but told The Associated Press on Sunday he will not hesitate to act if the EU mission is obstructed.
"My job is to make sure there is no violent action or threat and that I will do," Yakovleff said. "I won't wait for first blood."
The force, known as EULEX will have over 2,000 police and justice workers monitoring and advising Kosovo's authorities. The mission will rely on the 16,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping force to secure their deployment throughout the new country.
The EU's deployment has been rejected by the Serb minority, who are angry because most EU member states have supported Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia earlier this year.
Ethnic Albanians also have objections to the mission. They fear that the European Union made too many compromises with Serb leaders to ensure that the force be deployed in northern Kosovo without incident. The ethnic Albanians fear the concessions will give Belgrade a say over Kosovo's affairs in areas where Serbs live and eventually split the country along ethnic lines.
But Yakovleff's unique position as the general in charge of the ethnically divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica will put his actions under more scrutiny than any other military commander.
The former mining town is split by the Ibar River into a Serb north and an ethnic Albanian south. It has been a scene of riots since 1999.
Following the independence declaration, Serbs clashed with international forces in riots that left one Ukrainian peacekeeper dead and injured more than 30 NATO-led peacekeepers, most of them French.
"I don't want to spill rivers of blood," said Yakovleff who also commands peacekeepers from Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg and Morocco. "We will do what it takes."
International Herald Tribune
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