More German KFOR Troops for Kosovo

NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR) said on Wednesday it would deploy 600 more German troops to Kosovo next week as part of a reinforcement exercise, according to AFP. A German armored infantry unit would be deployed from March 6 to April 13 to "send a clear message from NATO and the international community of a strong resolve and commitment to maintain peace and stability in Kosovo," the KFOR statement read. The troops would arrive by air and join 18,000 NATO troops already stationed in the southern Serbian province, which was rocked by a 1998-1999 war between ethnic Albanian separatist guerrillas and Serbian forces. A NATO bombing campaign forced troops under then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw from the ethnic Albanian dominated province, which is seeking independence from Serbia. NATO has been criticised for failing to stop three days of violent riots against the Serb minority in March last year, the worst violence in the province since the war.