NATO has brought in reserve troops assigned to its peacekeeping mission to Kosovo (KFOR) for training, one of the mission commanders said, as a deadline approaches in a spat between the Serbian minority and the government that may spark fresh unrest.
Protests by Kosovo Serbs in the summer over a requirement for them to use state-issued car number plates have increased friction between Kosovo and Serbia, more than two decades after NATO bombed Serbia to end repression of Kosovo's Albanian majority.
Roadblocks erected during the summer protests were only dismantled when NATO peacekeepers stepped in to oversee the process and Kosovo agreed to postpone the licensing rule, with a deadline now running out on Oct. 31.
On Tuesday, KFOR's deputy commander said NATO could not rule out fresh tensions in the north as the deadline approaches, adding that NATO was ready to bring more troops to Kosovo should tensions among minority Serbs flare again, noting that the reserves had been brought in "as part of normal contingency planning."
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