KFOR considering request for return of Serbian troops to Kosovo-Metohija

PRISTINA - Confirming it has received a Serbian government request for a return of Serbian security forces to Kosovo-Metohija, the KFOR mission said on Friday it was considering the request.

"KFOR remains very alert and fully capable of fulfilling its mandate arising from the UN," a KFOR source told Pristina-based Koha daily.

Earlier in the day, Serbian Defence Minister Milos Vucevic said he had informed President Aleksandar Vucic and PM Ana Brnabic that a commission for the implementation of the 1999 Kumanovo Military- Technical Agreement had presented to KFOR a written request for a return of up to 1,000 Serbian army and police personnel to Kosovo-Metohija under UN SC Resolution 1244.

A decision to present the request was made at a government session on Thursday evening.

The request comes as Serbs in the north of Kosovo-Metohija continue to protest at barricades against the illegal arrest of former Kosovo Police officer Dejan Pantic and other Kosovo-Metohija Serbs and raids by Pristina's special police.