NATO to send 700 more troops to Kosovo to help quell violent protests
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00:00 These NATO-led peacekeepers in northern Kosovo will soon be joined by reinforcements, after
00:06 30 of their fellow troops were injured in violent clashes with ethnic Serb protesters
00:11 on Monday.
00:12 "We have decided to deploy 700 more troops from the operational reserve force for Western
00:19 Balkans and to put an additional battalion of reserve forces on higher readiness so they
00:26 can also be deployed if needed."
00:31 The violence has stirred fears of a renewal of the late 90s conflict in the volatile region.
00:37 This bout grew out of a protest by Serbs against the appointment of ethnic Albanian mayors.
00:43 "We're all staying here.
00:45 Our process will continue until our demands are met, that the new mayor leaves the building,
00:49 that he carries out his technical mandate in another location."
00:54 Serbs had boycotted the elections in protest against Kosovo's government, after it failed
00:59 to ratify a 2013 EU-brokered deal giving them greater autonomy.
01:03 But the Kosovan Prime Minister blamed the flare-up on far-right Serb groups.
01:09 "Yesterday, it was finally proven to all of us who we are up against.
01:16 Right-wing extremist groups donning masks who vandalise, attack, burn everything that
01:21 they do not consider Serbian.
01:24 The Serb community must be liberated from them."
01:29 Northern Kosovo's Serbs have never accepted Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence
01:34 from Serbia and still consider Belgrade their capital.
01:38 Last week, Serbia put the country's military on the highest state of alert and sent more
01:43 troops to the Kosovo border.
01:45 The EU has urged the leaders of both countries to immediately de-escalate tensions and engage
01:50 in EU-facilitated dialogue.