Kosovo government moves toward forming a regular army

By

The Associated Press

A Kosovo Albanian runs past a fire burning at a roadblock in Vojtesh, Kosovo, Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018. Kosovo Albanians burned tires and blocked roads with wooden logs, trucks and heavy machinery on a planned route by Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic who was trying to reach the village of Banje while visiting Serbs in the former Serbian province. The Kosovo government is now working to establish a regular army. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s government has prepared three draft laws on transforming the country’s security forces into a regular army, though it is not clear whether it will get formal parliamentary approval.

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj on Thursday said that any step on army transformation “will be done in line with our strategic partners in NATO, especially the U.S.”

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, which Serbia refuses to recognize.

A year ago, President Hashim Thaci bowed to pressure from NATO and the U.S. and withdrew draft legislation that did not require approval from Kosovo’s ethnic minorities, as constitutional amendments do.

At that time, Kosovo’s ethnic Serbs and other minority groups said they wouldn’t back the change.

About 

The Associated Press