Thaci hails KFOR troop cuts

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has welcomed the news that KFOR plans to cut its troop numbers by a third.

Izvor: FoNet

Friday, 12.06.2009.

09:28

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Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has welcomed the news that KFOR plans to cut its troop numbers by a third. Speaking to AP, Thaci said that NATO's decision was a message on "stability and progress in Kosovo" over a year after the unilateral independence declaration. Thaci hails KFOR troop cuts NATO agreed yesterday to reduce the KFOR contingent in Kosovo from 14,000 to 10,000 in the following months. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the most likely time frame was by January 1, 2010, with planned further reductions should the conditions permit, it was stated after yesterday's NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels. German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung justified NATO’s decision, stating that the security situation in the province had improved since the unilateral declaration of independence. Jung said that EULEX and the Kosovo Security Forces were now better able to take care of the Kosovo population’s security needs. However, Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac told the meeting that KFOR in Kosovo should not be reduced hastily, as security had not yet been raised to the necessary level when it came to Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanians. Meeting with de Hoop Scheffer and the heads of mission of several NATO member states, Sutanovac conveyed Belgrade’s concern about plans to reduce troop numbers. Croatian Defense Minister Branko Vukelic told the NATO meeting that Zagreb would be sending a contingent of 20 soldiers and two helicopters to Kosovo in the coming days. Vukelic, taking part at his first NATO meeting since Croatia’s accession to the alliance, said that the security situation in Kosovo was stable and good, which was why there were plans to cut troop numbers over the next two years. He added that NATO’s continued presence in Kosovo was “very important,“ and that “attention should be devoted to all processes taking place in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina too.“ The minister underlined that “stability in these two countries directly impacts on the stability of the whole region.“ Hashim Thaci (FoNet, archive)

Thaci hails KFOR troop cuts

NATO agreed yesterday to reduce the KFOR contingent in Kosovo from 14,000 to 10,000 in the following months.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the most likely time frame was by January 1, 2010, with planned further reductions should the conditions permit, it was stated after yesterday's NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels.

German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung justified NATO’s decision, stating that the security situation in the province had improved since the unilateral declaration of independence.

Jung said that EULEX and the Kosovo Security Forces were now better able to take care of the Kosovo population’s security needs.

However, Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac told the meeting that KFOR in Kosovo should not be reduced hastily, as security had not yet been raised to the necessary level when it came to Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanians.

Meeting with de Hoop Scheffer and the heads of mission of several NATO member states, Šutanovac conveyed Belgrade’s concern about plans to reduce troop numbers.

Croatian Defense Minister Branko Vukelić told the NATO meeting that Zagreb would be sending a contingent of 20 soldiers and two helicopters to Kosovo in the coming days.

Vukelić, taking part at his first NATO meeting since Croatia’s accession to the alliance, said that the security situation in Kosovo was stable and good, which was why there were plans to cut troop numbers over the next two years.

He added that NATO’s continued presence in Kosovo was “very important,“ and that “attention should be devoted to all processes taking place in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina too.“

The minister underlined that “stability in these two countries directly impacts on the stability of the whole region.“

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