Kosovo to create army in defiance of Serbia and Nato

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Kosovo to create army in defiance of Serbia and Nato

Associated Press in Pristina
Fri 14 Dec 2018 12.31 GMT

Kosovo’s parliament has overwhelmingly approved the formation of an army, a week after Serbia’s premier suggested the move could provoke military intervention by Belgrade.

All 107 MPs present in the 120-seat assembly voted in favour of passing three draft laws to turn a lightly armed 4,000-strong security force into an army.

Ethnic Serb politicians boycotted the vote. The chair of the assembly, Kadri Veseli, hailed it as the start of a new epoch for Kosovo.

Belgrade fears the main purpose of the move is to ethnically cleanse Kosovo’s Serbian-dominated north, something strongly denied by Pristina.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/14/kosovo-to-create-army-in-defiance-of-serbia-and-nato

[SharonClark]

1. Interesting article

There is a similar article in the Washington Post today "Serbia talks up armed intervention as Kosovo OKs new army".

[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/kosovo-parliament-to-vote-to-form-new-army-angering-serbia/2018/12/14/d00fd78a-ff7e-11e8-a17e-162b712e8fc2_story.html|

I met Kadri Veseli for the first time just last week. Kosovars take their security and future very seriously; I hope this move by the Kosovo government and the counter by the Serbian government is resolved peacefully.