A fresh contingent of more than 130 Romanian troops has arrived in Kosovo to further boost NATO's KFOR peacekeeping mission, the alliance said on October 14. The arrival of Romanian reinforcements came after 200 British troops were deployed to Kosovo earlier this month.
NATO said on September 29 that it would beef up its KFOR force in Kosovo amid rising tensions in the ethnic-Serb majority north. It did not say how many more troops it would send.
Four people were killed on September 24 in an attack at a 14th-century Orthodox monastery in north Kosovo when some 30 gunmen stormed the cloister, sparking a gunbattle with Kosovar police.
The incident prompted international concern over the stability of Kosovo, a former province of Serbia with a predominantly ethnic Albanian population that declared independence in 2008.
Most countries, including the United States and a majority of the European Union member states have recognized Kosovo's independence.
Serbia, which fought a bloody war against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1998-1999, and its traditional ally Russia have not recognized Kosovo's independence.
Tens of thousands of ethnic Serbs who live in northern Kosovo do not recognize central Kosovar institutions, and they have often clashed with Kosovar police and international peacekeepers.
In May, violence erupted when Kosovar authorities tried to install mayors in some Serb-majority towns.
Dozens of KFOR peacekeepers and some ethnic Serb protesters were injured in the clashes that broke out between international peacekeepers and ethnic Serbs after three ethnic Albanian mayors took office following a local election that Serbs boycotted.
The ethnic Albanian mayors were installed with the help of special Kosovar police in four municipalities with overwhelming ethnic Serb majorities following by-elections in April with a turnout of under 3.5 percent amid the Serb boycott.
The boycott is part of a campaign for greater autonomy for the ethnic Serbs and it has been backed by Belgrade.
Serbia also continues to unilaterally support ethnic Serbs through parallel institutions and ethnic-based political parties, which Pristina regards as illegal meddling.
