PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo’s parliament voted on Friday to create a 5,000-strong standing army, a week after Serbia’s premier suggested the move could provoke military intervention by Belgrade.

Kosovo's President Hashim Thaci walks past soldiers of Kosovo Security Force during the army formation ceremony in Pristina, Kosovo, December 14, 2018. REUTERS/Laura Hasani

The move, coming 20 years after Kosovo Albanians’ uprising against Serbian rule and a decade after independence, was lauded as “historic” by the United States but NATO criticized it as unhelpful in efforts to ease tensions between Kosovo and Serbia.

Legislation to transform the lightly armed Kosovo Security Force, which was created mainly for crisis response, civil defense and removal of ordnance from the 1990s conflict, into an army was approved by 105 deputies in the 120-seat assembly.

Eleven minority Serb deputies boycotted the vote. Kosovo’s constitution mandates the creation of a national army but no action was taken for years while Pristina sought, in vain, to obtain the approval of Kosovo Serbs.

The move is also strongly opposed by Kosovo Serbs’ patron Serbia, which has refused to recognize the independence of its former province and warned that a national Kosovo army could destabilize the Western Balkans.

“I regret that this decision was made despite the concerns expressed by NATO,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement on Friday.

“The North Atlantic Council will now have to re-examine the level of NATO’s engagement with the Kosovo Security Force,” he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was concerned by the move, said U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq.

“The Secretary-General calls on all parties concerned to exercise restraint and refrain from actions that could raise tensions and cause a further setback in the European Union-facilitated dialogue for the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina,” Haq said in a statement.

Though creating an army could take years, Serbian politicians maintain that it could be used to expel remaining Serbs from Kosovo - an accusation denied by Kosovo Albanian leaders who rely on European Union and U.S. support for reforms and development of the small, impoverished Balkan country.

On Dec. 5, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic suggested one possible response by Belgrade could be military intervention.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will be inspecting troops along the Kosovo border over the next three days, his office said on Thursday.

A NATO-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo still has around 4,000 troops in the landlocked country.

Balkans analysts, however, said any action by Serbia’s 28,000-strong army against Kosovo is highly unlikely given Belgrade’s aspirations to join the EU and that Brnabic’s remarks appeared to be a sop to Serbian nationalists.

With the new law in place, Kosovo will set up a defense ministry and the future army is to be comprised of 5,000 active soldiers and 3,000 reservists. Pristina government officials said the process would last at least 10 years.

Kosovo’s independence came almost a decade after a NATO air war halted a two-year counter-insurgency war by Serbian security forces that included arrests, killings and expulsions of ethnic Albanian civilians.</s>PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo’s parliament voted on Friday to create a 5,000-strong standing army, a week after Serbia’s premier suggested the move could provoke military intervention by Belgrade.

The move, coming 20 years after Kosovo Albanians’ uprising against Serbian rule and a decade after independence, was lauded as “historic” by the United States but NATO criticised it as unhelpful in efforts to ease tensions between Kosovo and Serbia.

Legislation to transform the lightly armed Kosovo Security Force, which was created mainly for crisis response, civil defence and removal of ordnance from the 1990s conflict, into an army was approved by 105 deputies in the 120-seat assembly.

Eleven minority Serb deputies boycotted the vote. Kosovo’s constitution mandates the creation of a national army but no action was taken for years while Pristina sought, in vain, to obtain the approval of Kosovo Serbs.

The move is also strongly opposed by Kosovo Serbs’ patron Serbia, which has refused to recognise the independence of its former province and warned that a national Kosovo army could destabilise the Western Balkans.

“I regret that this decision was made despite the concerns expressed by NATO,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement on Friday.

“The North Atlantic Council will now have to re-examine the level of NATO’s engagement with the Kosovo Security Force,” he said.

Though creating such an army could take years, Serbian politicians maintain that it could be used to expel remaining Serbs from Kosovo - an accusation denied by Kosovo Albanian leaders who rely on European Union and U.S. support for reforms and development of the small, impoverished Balkan country.

On Dec. 5, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic suggested one possible response by Belgrade could be military intervention.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will be inspecting troops along the Kosovo border over the next three days, his office said on Thursday.

NATO-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo still has around 4,000 troops in the landlocked country.

Balkans analysts, however, said any action by Serbia’s 28,000-strong army against Kosovo is highly unlikely given Belgrade’s aspirations to join the EU and that Brnabic’s remarks appeared to be a sop to Serbian nationalists.

With the new law in place, Kosovo will set up a defence ministry and the future army is to be comprised of 5,000 active soldiers and 3,000 reservists. Pristina government officials said the process would last at least 10 years.

Kosovo’s independence came almost a decade after a NATO air war halted a two-year counter-insurgency war by Serbian security forces that included arrests, killings and expulsions of ethnic Albanian civilians.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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Kosovo's parliament voted on Friday to create a 5,000-strong standing army, a week after Serbia's premier suggested the move could provoke military intervention by Belgrade.

PRISTINA: Kosovo's parliament voted on Friday to create a 5,000-strong standing army, a week after Serbia's premier suggested the move could provoke military intervention by Belgrade.

The move, coming 20 years after Kosovo Albanians' uprising against Serbian rule and a decade after independence, was lauded as "historic" by the United States but NATO criticised it as unhelpful in efforts to ease tensions between Kosovo and Serbia.

Legislation to transform the lightly armed Kosovo Security Force, which was created mainly for crisis response, civil defence and removal of ordnance from the 1990s conflict, into an army was approved by 105 deputies in the 120-seat assembly.

Eleven minority Serb deputies boycotted the vote. Kosovo's constitution mandates the creation of an national army but no action was taken for years while Pristina sought, in vain, to obtain the approval of Kosovo Serbs.

The move is also strongly opposed by Kosovo Serbs' patron Serbia, which has refused to recognise the independence of its former province and warned that a national Kosovo army could destabilise the Western Balkans.

Though creating such an army could take years, Serbian politicians maintain that it could be used to expel remaining Serbs from Kosovo - an accusation denied by Kosovo Albanian leaders who rely on European Union and U.S. support for reforms and development of the small, impoverished Balkan country.

On Dec. 5, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic suggested one possible response by Belgrade could be military intervention.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will be inspecting troops along the Kosovo border over the next three days, his office said on Thursday.

NATO-led peacekeeping mission to Kosovo still has around 4,000 troops in the landlocked country.

Balkans analysts, however, said any action by Serbia's 28,000-strong army against Kosovo is highly unlikely given Belgrade's aspirations to join the EU and that Brnabic's remarks appeared to be a sop to Serbian nationalists.

With the new law in place, Kosovo will set up a defence ministry and the future army is to be comprised of 5,000 active soldiers and 3,000 reservists. Pristina government officials said the process would last at least 10 years.

Kosovo's independence came almost a decade after a NATO air war halted a two-year counter-insurgency war by Serbian security forces that included arrests, killings and expulsions of ethnic Albanian civilians.

Reflecting Washington's position as the biggest ally of Kosovo Albanians, U.S. Ambassador Philip Kosnett said Friday's vote was “historic” for Kosovo and pledged full U.S. support.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that idea of creating a Kosovo army "goes against the advice of many NATO allies and may have serious repercussions for Kosovo's future Euro-Atlantic integration".</s>Kosovo's parliament voted on Friday to create a 5,000-strong standing army, a week after Serbia's premier suggested the move could provoke military intervention by Belgrade.

The move, coming 20 years after Kosovo Albanians' uprising against Serbian rule and a decade after independence, was lauded as "historic" by the United States but NATO criticised it as unhelpful in efforts to ease tensions between Kosovo and Serbia.

Legislation to transform the lightly armed Kosovo Security Force, which was created mainly for crisis response, civil defence and removal of ordnance from the 1990s conflict, into an army was approved by 105 deputies in the 120-seat assembly.

Eleven minority Serb deputies boycotted the vote. Kosovo's constitution mandates the creation of an national army but no action was taken for years while Pristina sought, in vain, to obtain the approval of Kosovo Serbs.</s>PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s Parliament overwhelmingly approved legislation on Friday to form an army, prompting criticism from NATO and European Union officials and angering neighboring Serbia, which said it was prepared to use its own army to protect ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.

All 107 lawmakers present in Kosovo’s 120-seat Parliament, which is dominated by ethnic Albanian parties, voted to back the government’s plan to transform the 3,000-strong, lightly armed Kosovo Security Force into an army that would grow to 5,000 active troops and 3,000 reservists in the next decade.

Kosovo Serb lawmakers did not attend the session.

Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s president, said in the town of Trstenik in central Serbia on the eve of the vote, “Not a single act in the international law gives them the right to form an army.”

“Everything that Pristina does — and evidently it does it all with support of the U.S. and Britain — is against the law,” Vucic added.

Serbia’s foreign minister, Ivica Dacic, said that Belgrade would request an emergency U.N. Security Council session over what he said was “the grossest violation” of the resolution governing such a formation.

“It is the most direct threat to peace and stability in the region,” Dacic said.

Serbia’s prime minister, Ana Brnabic, said the formation of a Kosovo army ran counter to efforts at stability in the volatile Balkans. She added that she hoped Belgrade would not have to use any of its 28,000 troops to protect the Serbian minority in Kosovo, although “this is currently one of the options on the table.”

Officials in Kosovo had sought to defuse anger ahead of the vote. “Our army comes in peace,” Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said on Thursday. He accused officials in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, of spreading false allegations through the government-controlled news media that a Kosovo army would be a threat to Serbs and its neighbors.

“The narrative that Kosovo would use its military forces against Kosovo Serbs and its neighbors is an unfounded narrative,” Haradinaj said. “It’s a modern, multiethnic army that has grown up together with NATO and KFOR, their soldiers and officers in our country.”

KFOR is the name of the NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. There are about 5,000 such troops in Kosovo, including some 600 U.S. soldiers.</s>PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo's parliament on Friday overwhelmingly approved the formation of an army, angering Serbia which talked up the possibility of an armed intervention in response. NATO's chief called Kosovo's move "ill-timed" and urged dialogue to maintain peace in the war-scarred region.

The 120-seat parliament voted with all present 107 lawmakers in favor of passing three draft laws to expand an existing 4,000 Kosovo Security Force and turn it into a regular lightly armed army. Ethnic-Serb community lawmakers boycotted the vote.

Serbia insists that the new army violates a U.N. resolution that ended Kosovo's 1998-1999 bloody war of independence. It has warned bluntly that it may respond to the move with an armed intervention in the former province, with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic saying it was "one of the options on the table."

On Friday, Nikola Selakovic, an adviser to the Serbian president, said the county could send in Serbian armed forces or declare Kosovo an occupied territory.

In Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, Serb leader Goran Rakic said the new army was "unacceptable" and "showed clearly that Pristina does not want peace." Rakic urged Serbs in Kosovo to show "restraint and not respond to provocations."

Any Serbian armed intervention in Kosovo would mean a direct confrontation with thousands of NATO-led peacekeepers, including U.S. soldiers, stationed in Kosovo since 1999.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move not recognized by Belgrade or its ally Russia. Tensions have remained high between the two sides, and NATO and the European Union — which has led years-long talks to improve ties between the Balkan neighbors — expressed regret that Kosovo decided to go ahead with the army formation.

"I reiterate my call on both Pristina and Belgrade to remain calm and refrain from any statements or actions which may lead to escalation," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

He said the alliance remains committed "to a safe and secure environment in Kosovo and to stability in the wider Western Balkans." He said they will "re-examine the level of NATO's engagement with the Kosovo Security Force."

The new army will preserve its former name — Kosovo Security Force — but now with a new mandate. In about a decade the army will have 5,000 troops and 3,000 reservists, essentially operating as a security force handling crisis response and civil protection operations.

Seeking to reassure Serbia and the international community, Kosovo's Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said the new army "will never be used against them (Serbs)."

He added: "Serbia's army will now have a partner — Kosovo's army — in the partnership for peace process and it won't be a long time when we serve together."

Serbia fears the move's main purpose is to chase the Serb minority out Kosovo's Serbian-dominated north, a claim strongly denied by Pristina.

President Hashim Thaci said that the new army will be "multiethnic, professional and to serve all citizens, peace in Kosovo, the region and wherever in the world when asked." He called on the return to dialogue for normalizing ties with Serbia.

The United States hailed Kosovo's parliamentary vote to form a new army as a first step and reaffirmed "its support for the gradual transition ... to a force with a territorial defense mandate, as is Kosovo's sovereign right."

In a sign of defiance, Serbs in the north displayed Serbian flags on streets and balconies while NATO-led peacekeepers deployed on a bridge in the ethnically divided northern town of Mitrovica.

Kosovo's 1998-1999 war ended with a 78-day NATO air campaign in June 1999 that stopped a bloody Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.</s>Lawmakers in Kosovo will vote on December 14 on whether to create a full-fledged army, a move that has inflamed tensions with its former wartime foe Serbia.

The vote to convert Kosovo’s lightly armed emergency response force into a professional army is widely expected to pass.

The move has received support from all parties in the ethnic-Albanian majority Western Balkan nation except lawmakers who represent the country’s 120,000-strong ethnic-Serb minority. Those lawmakers have boycotted parliament sessions on the matter.

The United States has backed Kosovo's move, but it attempted to reassure those opposed to the action by insisting the process will take "many years.”

The U.S. ambassador to Pristina, Philip Kosnett, said that “it is only natural for Kosovo as a sovereign, independent country to have a self-defense capability.”

Officials estimate it will take up to a decade for the current Kosovo Security Force (KSF) to become a combat-ready army.

However, the U.S. comments came hours after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that Kosovo's plan was "ill-timed" and goes "against the advice of many NATO allies."

Belgrade and ethnic Serbs in the Kosovo have vehemently opposed the creation of a Kosovar military, saying it would violate UN resolutions and be used against the country’s Serb minority -- a claim denied by officials in Pristina.

Nationalist Serbian newspapers have warned the move could set off a new conflict. The daily Informer stated that "War with Kosovo will start on December 15," the day after parliament’s vote.

Serbian officials have downplayed the possibility of war, but Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on December 13 said that the "situation will be considerably worsened" if Kosovo goes ahead with the decision.

"We are not going to beat the war drums, but we will not allow anyone to purge and humiliate the Kosovo Serbs," Vucic said.

Relations between Pristina and Belgrade have been tense since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Although more than 110 countries recognize Kosovo, Serbia does not.

Serbia lost control over Kosovo in 1999 after NATO launched air strikes to stop the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serb forces during a two-year counterinsurgency war.

Nearly two decades after the end of the conflict, the landlocked territory of 1.8 million people is still guarded by NATO troops.

The current KSF is a 2,500-strong force trained by NATO and tasked with crisis response, civil protection, and ordinance disposal.

Ahead of the vote, the KSF held exercises in the south while NATO-led peacekeepers deployed a convoy of combat vehicles in the north of Kosovo.

Many of Kosovo's Serbs called it a provocation, but the NATO mission said it was a routine exercise.

With reporting by AFP and AP</s>By Florent Bajrami and Llazar Semini, The Associated Press

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Serbia talked up the possibility of an armed intervention in Kosovo Friday after the parliament in Pristina overwhelmingly approved the formation of an army, with Belgrade calling the move the “most direct threat to peace and stability in the region.” NATO’s chief called Kosovo’s move “ill-timed” and urged dialogue.

The 120-seat parliament voted with all present 107 lawmakers in favor of passing three draft laws to expand an existing 4,000 Kosovo Security Force and turn it into a regular lightly armed army. Ethnic-Serb community lawmakers boycotted the vote.

Serbia insists that the new army violates a U.N. resolution that ended Kosovo’s 1998-1999 bloody war of independence. It has warned bluntly that it may respond to the move with an armed intervention in the former province, with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic saying it was “one of the options on the table.”

On Friday, Nikola Selakovic, an adviser to the Serbian president, said the country could send in Serbian armed forces or declare Kosovo an occupied territory. Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Serbia will seek an urgent session of the United Nations Security Council over the issue.

In Serb-dominated northern Kosovo, Serb leader Goran Rakic said the new army was “unacceptable” and “showed clearly that Pristina does not want peace.” Rakic urged Serbs in Kosovo to show “restraint and not respond to provocations.”

Any Serbian armed intervention in Kosovo would mean a direct confrontation with thousands of NATO-led peacekeepers, including U.S. soldiers, stationed in Kosovo since 1999.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move not recognized by Belgrade or its ally Russia. Tensions have remained high between the two sides, and NATO and the European Union — which has led years-long talks to improve ties between the Balkan neighbors — expressed regret that Kosovo decided to go ahead with the army formation.

“I reiterate my call on both Pristina and Belgrade to remain calm and refrain from any statements or actions which may lead to escalation,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

He said the alliance remains committed “to a safe and secure environment in Kosovo and to stability in the wider Western Balkans.” He said they will “re-examine the level of NATO’s engagement with the Kosovo Security Force.”

The new army will preserve its current name — Kosovo Security Force — but now with a new mandate. In about a decade the army expects to have 5,000 troops and 3,000 reservists, and a 98-million euro ($111 million) annual budget. It will handle crisis response and civil protection operations — essentially what the current paramilitary force, which is lightly armed, does. Its main tasks would be search and rescue, explosive ordnance disposal, firefighting and hazardous material disposal.

It’s not immediately clear how much more equipment or weapons the new army will have compared to the current force.

Seeking to reassure Serbia and the international community, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said the new army “will never be used against them (Serbs).” He added: “Serbia’s army will now have a partner — Kosovo’s army — in the partnership for peace process and it won’t be a long time when we serve together.”

Serbia fears the move’s main purpose is to chase the Serb minority out Kosovo’s Serbian-dominated north, a claim strongly denied by Pristina.

President Hashim Thaci said that the new army will be “multiethnic, professional and to serve all citizens, peace in Kosovo, the region and wherever in the world when asked.” He called on the return to dialogue for normalizing ties with Serbia.

The United States hailed Kosovo’s parliament vote to form a new army as a first step and reaffirmed “its support for the gradual transition … to a force with a territorial defense mandate, as is Kosovo’s sovereign right.”

A U.S. embassy statement in Pristina urged Kosovo to continue “close coordination with NATO allies and partners and to engage in outreach to minority communities.”

“Regional stability requires that Kosovo make genuine efforts to normalize relations with its neighbor Serbia, and we encourage both sides to take immediate steps to lower tensions and create conditions for rapid progress on the dialogue,” it said.

In a sign of defiance, Serbs in the north displayed Serbian flags on streets and balconies while NATO-led peacekeepers deployed on a bridge in the ethnically divided northern town of Mitrovica.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also is to visit Serbian troops on the border with Kosovo in an apparent saber-rattling move.

Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war ended with a 78-day NATO air campaign in June 1999 that stopped a bloody Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.

Semini reported from Tirana, Albania. Dusan Stojanovic and Jovana Gec from Belgrade, Serbia contributed.</s>Serbia talks up armed intervention as Kosovo OKs new army

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Serbia threatened a possible armed intervention in Kosovo after the Kosovo parliament on Friday overwhelmingly approved the formation of an army. Belgrade called the move a "direct threat to peace and stability" in the Balkans and lashed out at the United States for supporting it.

While NATO's chief called the action by Kosovo "ill-timed," the U.S. approved it as "Kosovo's sovereign right" as an independent nation that unilaterally broke away from Serbia in 2008.

All 107 lawmakers present in the 120-seat Kosovo parliament voted in favor of passing three draft laws to expand an existing 4,000 Kosovo Security Force and turn it into a regular, lightly armed army. Ethnic Serb lawmakers boycotted the vote.

Serbia insists the new army violates a U.N. resolution that ended Serbia's bloody crackdown on Kosovar separatists in 1998-1999. It has warned bluntly that it may respond with an armed intervention in its former province, with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic saying that's "one of the options on the table."

On Friday, Nikola Selakovic, an adviser to the Serbian president, said the country could send in armed forces or declare Kosovo an occupied territory. Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Serbia will seek an urgent session of the U.N. Security Council over the issue.

The Security Council held closed consultations late Friday on the format of a meeting, possibly on Monday or Tuesday. Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks were private, said Russia, a close ally of Serbia, wants an open meeting to be addressed by Serbia's president while European nations want a closed session.

The decision will be made by Ivory Coast's U.N. ambassador, the current council president, the diplomats said.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres affirmed the U.N.'s desire to maintain the Kosovo Force as the body that ensures the safety of Kosovo, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said late Friday.

He said "the secretary-general calls on all parties concerned to exercise restraint and refrain from actions that could raise tensions and cause a further setback in the European Union-facilitated dialogue for the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina."

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic visited Serbian troops near the border with Kosovo and later Vucic addressed the nation, denouncing the United States for its apparent support of a Kosovo army and praising allies Russia and China for their opposition to the move.

He said that Kosovo and its "sponsor" — the U.S. — want to "quash" the Serbs, but that he won't allow it.

Vucic says Serbia has been "brought to the edge" by Kosovo's decision and now has no choice but to "defend" itself. It was one of the strongest anti-American outbursts by Vucic, a former pro-Russian ultranationalist turned alleged pro-EU reformer.

Any Serbian armed intervention in Kosovo would mean a direct confrontation with thousands of NATO-led peacekeepers, including U.S. soldiers, who have been stationed in Kosovo since 1999.

Russia denounced the move to form a Kosovo army, saying the ethnic Albanian force must be "disbanded" by NATO in Kosovo.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move not recognized by Belgrade or Russia. Tensions have remained high between the two sides, and NATO and the European Union — which has led yearslong talks to improve ties between the Balkan neighbors — expressed regret that Kosovo decided to go ahead with the army formation.

"I reiterate my call on both Pristina and Belgrade to remain calm and refrain from any statements or actions which may lead to escalation," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

He said the alliance remains committed "to a safe and secure environment in Kosovo and to stability in the wider Western Balkans." He said they will "re-examine the level of NATO's engagement with the Kosovo Security Force."

The new army will preserve its current name — Kosovo Security Force — but now has a new mandate. In about a decade the army expects to have 5,000 troops and 3,000 reservists, and a 98 million-euro ($111 million) annual budget. It will handle crisis response and civil protection operations — essentially what the current paramilitary force, which is lightly armed, does. Its main tasks would be search and rescue, explosive ordnance disposal, firefighting and hazardous material disposal.

It's not immediately clear how much more equipment or weapons the new army will have or need compared with the current force.

Seeking to reassure Serbia and the international community, Kosovo's Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said the new army "will never be used against them (Serbs)."

He added: "Serbia's army will now have a partner — Kosovo's army — in the partnership for peace process."

Serbia fears the move's main purpose is to chase the Serb minority out of Kosovo's Serbian-dominated north, a claim strongly denied by the government in Pristina.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci said that the new army will be "multiethnic, professional and will serve all citizens, peace in Kosovo, the region and wherever in the world, when asked."

He called on a return to dialogue for normalizing ties with Serbia.

The United States hailed Kosovo's parliament vote to form a new army as a first step and reaffirmed "its support for the gradual transition ... to a force with a territorial defense mandate, as is Kosovo's sovereign right."

A U.S. embassy statement in Pristina urged Kosovo to continue "close coordination with NATO allies and partners and to engage in outreach to minority communities."

"Regional stability requires that Kosovo make genuine efforts to normalize relations with its neighbor Serbia, and we encourage both sides to take immediate steps to lower tensions and create conditions for rapid progress on the dialogue," it said.

In a sign of defiance, Serbs in northern Kosovo displayed Serbian flags on their streets and balconies. NATO-led peacekeepers deployed on a bridge in the ethnically divided northern town of Mitrovica to keep the peace.

Kosovo's 1998-1999 war ended with a 78-day NATO air campaign in June 1999 that stopped a bloody Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.

Semini reported from Tirana, Albania. Dusan Stojanovic and Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.</s>PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - Kosovo’s parliament on Friday overwhelmingly approved the formation of an army, angering Serbia which talked up the possibility of an armed intervention in response. NATO’s chief called Kosovo’s move “ill-timed” and called for dialogue to maintain peace in the war-scarred region.

The 120-seat parliament on Friday voted with all present 107 lawmakers in favor of passing three draft laws to expand an existing 4,000 Kosovo Security Force and turn it into a regular lightly armed army. Ethnic-Serb community lawmakers boycotted the vote.

Serbia insists that the new army violates a U.N. resolution that ended Kosovo’s 1998-1999 bloody war of independence. It has warned bluntly that it may respond to the move with an armed intervention in the former province, with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic saying it was “one of the options on the table.”

On Friday, Nikola Selakovic, an adviser to the Serbian president, said the county could send in Serbian armed forces or declare Kosovo an occupied territory.

Any Serbian armed intervention in Kosovo would mean a direct confrontation with thousands of NATO-led peacekeepers, including U.S. soldiers, stationed in Kosovo since 1999, when Serbia lost control of its former province after a bloody crackdown against Kosovo Albanians.

Seeking to reassure Serbia and the international community, Kosovo’s Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said “Kosovo’s army will never be used against them (Serbs).” He added: “Serbia’s army will now have a partner - Kosovo’s army - in the partnership for peace process and it won’t be a long time when we serve together.”

Serbia fears the move’s main purpose is to chase the Serb minority out Kosovo’s Serbian-dominated north, a claim strongly denied by Pristina.

President Hashim Thaci said that the new army will be “multiethnic, professional and to serve all citizens, peace in Kosovo, the region and wherever in the world when asked.”

He called on the return to dialogue for normalizing ties with Serbia.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move not recognized by Belgrade, and tensions have remained high between the two sides.

“I reiterate my call on both Pristina and Belgrade to remain calm and refrain from any statements or actions which may lead to escalation,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

He said the alliance remains committed “to a safe and secure environment in Kosovo and to stability in the wider Western Balkans.” He said they will “re-examine the level of NATO’s engagement with the Kosovo Security Force.”

The new army will preserve its former name - Kosovo Security Force - but now with a new mandate. In about a decade the army will have 5,000 troops and 3,000 reservists, essentially operating as a security force handling crisis response and civil protection operations.

The United States hailed Kosovo’s parliament vote to form a new army as a first step and reaffirmed “its support for the gradual transition … to a force with a territorial defense mandate, as is Kosovo’s sovereign right.”

A U.S. embassy statement in Pristina urged Kosovo to continue “close coordination with NATO allies and partners and to engage in outreach to minority communities.”

“Regional stability requires that Kosovo make genuine efforts to normalize relations with its neighbor Serbia, and we encourage both sides to take immediate steps to lower tensions and create conditions for rapid progress on the dialogue,” it said.

In a sign of defiance, Serbs in the north displayed Serbian flags on streets and balconies while NATO-led peacekeepers deployed on a bridge in the ethnically divided northern town of Mitrovica.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also is to visit Serbian troops on the border with Kosovo in an apparent saber-rattling move.

Kosovo’s 1998-1999 war ended with a 78-day NATO air campaign in June 1999 that stopped a Serbian crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.
The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo votes to create a proper army out of the lightly-armed Kosovo Security Force, with eleven minority Serb deputies boycotting the vote. While the United States lauds the decision, criticism has come from both NATO and the neighbouring country of Serbia.