NATO is to almost halve the number of its troops based in Kosovo from nearly 10,000 to 5,000 within months, secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement Friday.

“Today, NATO has decided to adjust the KFOR presence in Kosovo,” the statement said, citing progress in the breakaway former Serbian province despite a government crisis.

“Over the next few months, KFOR will progressively reduce its presence to around 5,000 troops in total, marking one more step in the adaptation of KFOR to a deterrent presence.”

The Kosovo Force (KFOR) mission, which includes troops from 32 countries, of which 25 are in NATO, was reduced in January from 15,000 to 10,000 soldiers, and a spokesman said it was now under that figure.

“The security conditions in Kosovo continue to improve, which is a positive sign not only for Kosovo, but for the whole region. Local institutions are increasingly capable of assuming responsibility for security tasks,” Rasmussen said.

“KFOR will remain able to deploy forces quickly and effectively whenever and wherever necessary, including with robust reserves. KFOR?s mission to guarantee a safe and secure environment in Kosovo remains unchanged.”

The move follows an agreement between Pristina and Belgrade to have talks, though Serbia still rejects Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence of February 2008, which has been recognised by 71 countries.

However Kosovo is in political crisis after the surprise resignation of President Fatmir Sejdiu, whose Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) also pulled out of the coalition government.

Early elections were called for February 13 but they could come sooner, as Prime Minister Hashim Thaci’s minority government faces a vote of no confidence on Tuesday, which it could well lose.

If the motion is supported by 61 out of 120 members of the parliament, assembly speaker Jakup Krasniqi, who is also the interim president, must dissolve the legislature and call snap elections within 45 days.

In Pristina KFOR’s commander, German general Erhard Buhler, told reporters the reduction “will be accomplished step by step.”

“It should come to an end in spring 2011,” Buhler said, adding that KFOR would “significantly increase mobility, air mobility, flexibility and readiness of KFOR contingents as a compensation for the reduction.”

Since the end of the 1998-1999 war in predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo, the northern part, populated mostly by minority Serbs, has been the scene of deep tensions and inter-ethnic clashes.

On October 4 NATO-led peacekeepers, together with EU and local police, increased security in the north, warning they would not tolerate further violence.

In September Rasmussen urged members of the alliance to reconsider the pace of troop pullouts from Kosovo in order to ensure that a sufficient force remains to maintain stability and peace.

NATO members, faced with tighter budgets and a need to reinforce troops in Afghanistan, want to reduce their presence in Kosovo as soon as possible, although it was agreed in principle that it would be done collectively, a diplomat said.

The Czech Republic and neighbouring Slovakia have said their contingents in Kosovo would be respectively slashed or entirely withdrawn in favour of the NATO-led war in Afghanistan.

NATO intends to further cut its presence in Kosovo to 2,500 men by 2012 depending on security conditions. The main contingents are from Germany, Italy, the United States and France.

Buhler said that “appropriate reserve (NATO) forces” in the area of operations will be standing ready to support “the forces in Kosovo whenever and wherever necessary.”

“About 2,000 soldiers are ready to enforce KFOR within four to 14 days,” he said.

KFOR was deployed in 1999 following an alliance bombing campaign against Serbian forces fighting ethnic Albanian separatist guerrillas.

By By Pascal Mallet
AFP
October 29, 010

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