EU to keep troops in Bosnia over Kosovo concerns

[Marcus Marulus]

EU to keep troops in Bosnia over Kosovo concerns

European Union to keep peacekeepers Bosnia, citing concerns about Kosovo tensions

PAUL AMES

AP News

May 26, 2008 17:02 EST

European Union defense ministers agreed Monday to keep the bloc's 2,500 peacekeepers in Bosnia, citing concern that tensions in Kosovo could spill over into other parts of the Balkans.

"The region is not yet fully stable," said Slovene Defense Minister Karl Erjavec, who chaired the meeting. "It is necessary to continue being present militarily."

Some EU nations had hoped that growing stability in Bosnia would allow them to pull the troops out, leaving just a police and civilian mission. However, the failure of Bosnia's ethnically based political parties to agree on a new constitution and the tensions over Kosovo mean the soldiers needed to stay on, Erjavec told reporters.

In a statement, the ministers said the "EU-led military presence would remain there for as long as necessary."

The EU took over the Bosnian mission in 2004 and cut troop levels from 6,000 last year as part of a gradual reduction from the 60,000 NATO soldiers that moved in after the country's 1992-1995 civil war.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February, and is due in June to formally take over authority from the United Nations, which has run the territory since the Kosovo war ended in 1999.

Serbia and its ally Russia strongly oppose Kosovo's independence. Nationalist Serb rioters protesting Kosovo's independence attacked the U.S. Embassy building in Belgrade in February, burning part of it.

Associated Press writer Jan Sliva contributed to this report.


Source: AP News

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