Hardened NATO troops face Kosovo challenge

British soldiers bolster peacekeeping mission in tense region

British troops who serve in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo patrol the mountainous roads outside the village of Bistrica near the border that divides Kosovo and Serbia, on Thursday.

By Nebi Qena - The Associated Press

BISTRICA – With their guns pointed at the ground, British peacekeepers started a fast-paced foot patrol through an ethnic Albanian village in Kosovo’s tense, Serb-dominated north.

They were among 600 battle-hardened British soldiers recently deployed to boost NATO’s 16,000-strong presence in Kosovo amid fears ethnic tensions might boil over as the new country’s constitution comes into force on June 15. “In Iraq we’d be treading carefully, weapons at shoulder height,” said Captain Paul Smythe, pointing his weapon sideways as if enemies lurked in the tree-covered hills.

“Here we patrol with guns down – not Basra-style.” The British troops – The 2nd Battalion, The Rifles – are supposed to keep a lid on the tensions as Kosovo’s leadership prepares to take control from the UN and run the new country alongside European Union supervisors, Smythe, the spokesman for the British troops in Kosovo, said late on Thursday.

“We’re here to provide a stable environment so that the politicians can do their job and make sure that both sides of the communities get what they need out of this new Kosovo state,” Smythe told The Associated Press.

It may prove to be a daunting task. Northern Kosovo is home to most of the new country’s Serb minority, which fiercely opposes Kosovo’s declaration of independence. The area was the scene of deadly clashes between Serbs and international forces in March.

Highlighting the divide, Serb nationalists joined forces with radical leaders yesterday to form a Serb local council in northern Mitrovica based on results from last month’s elections in Serbia.

The move is likely to be ignored by the United Nations in Kosovo, which considers the vote to be illegal. But it further strains the uneasy relationship between the two communities and also puts NATO peacekeepers at risk of being targeted by extremists. But Smythe said his troops are prepared for anything. They have operated in some of the toughest war zones around the world, including Iraq. They are scheduled to deploy in Afghanistan in 2009.

“We’ve had experience working in places like Northern Ireland, so I don’t think we’re going to have any issues, should we have to deal with situations that are a little bit more tense than they are at the moment,” Smythe said.

The soldiers are based in a French-run military camp just south of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica. They patrol both Serb and Albanian areas. The first stop for the patrol Thursday was the village school in the primarily ethnic Albanian town of Bistrica, secluded in a lush valley surrounded by hilltops.

Residents appeared grateful for the protection the troops provide. The 18 children attending school in Bistrica – one of only three Albanian enclaves in the Serb-dominated north – rushed out to the schoolyard, swamping the soldiers.

Soon a soccer ball appeared. The soldiers, heavy-footed with military boots, ended up shedding their weapons for a kick-about with the kids.