Nearly two decades after the Kosovo war, relations between Belgrade and Pristina remain strained and Serbia continues to regard Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, as a renegade province.
Kosovo signalled on Wednesday plans to turn its security force into a national army, a move strongly opposed by its ethnic Serb minority and by Belgrade which said it would cause instability in the region.
Nearly two decades after the Kosovo war, relations between Belgrade and Pristina remain strained and Serbia continues to regard Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, as a renegade province.
The Kosovo government ordered the creation of a national army three years ago but Serbian deputies said they would block the required changes to the constitution.
On Wednesday parliament indicated it would bypass that opposition by preparing amendments to an existing law that would allow the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) to buy heavy weapons, effectively turning it into an army.
A vote is expected in the coming days. Serb deputies, who number just 11 in the 120-strong chamber but whose support would be needed to change the constitution, said they would boycott the session.
"This is a decision in the interests of our country for completely peaceful purposes ... to have good relations with all our neighbours but also to protect our country," the speaker of parliament, Kadri Veseli, said during a visit to a KSF barracks.
"INSTABILITY"
Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic signalled Belgrade's opposition on Monday ahead of Kosovo's move.
"Serbia will do all it can politically to prevent this, but ... they are always making those unilateral moves and the consequences of this policy are clearly visible, causing instability in the region," Dacic said.
The new army will comprise 5,000 active soldiers and 3,000 reservists in Kosovo, a landlocked country of 1.8 million people that borders Serbia, Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia.
The KSF is a lightly armed, 2,500-strong force tasked with crisis response, civil protection and ordinance disposal. It has been trained by NATO, which still keeps 4,500 troops in Kosovo to help maintain the fragile peace.
It was unclear whether NATO had given a green light for Kosovo's move to amend the law or whether the planned change would be in line with the country's constitution.
"It is for Kosovo local institutions to decide on the mandate, structure and mission of the KSF, in accordance with their constitutional law," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told Reuters in a written statement.
"NATO supports the KSF within its current mandate. Should that mandate evolve, the North Atlantic Council will have to re-examine the level of NATO engagement in terms of capacity building."
NATO arrived in Kosovo in June 1999 following 78 days of air strikes to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanian civilians by Serbian forces fighting a two-year counter-insurgency war
NATO has said it has no plans to leave Kosovo for now.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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