Serbia’s army chief of staff is expected in Kosovo Thursday–for the first time since it proclaimed independence in 2008–for talks with the commander of North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led peacekeepers, known as KFOR, officials said.

Gen. Miloje Miletic will meet with the commander, German general Markus Bentler, in the Kosovo capital Pristina for talks on cooperation between the peacekeepers and the Serbian army, Serbia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

The two generals would also discuss “the security situation in Kosovo and along the administrative border” between Kosovo and Serbia proper, it added.

Miletic is only the second Serbian army chief to visit Kosovo since 1999, when the breakaway territory came under United Nations administration following a NATO bombing campaign.

The bombing was launched to stop a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians carried out by the Serbian regime of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

In 2005, Gen. Dragan Paskas, then chief of staff of Serbia-Montenegro’s federation army, visited Pristina to attend a transfer of duty by KFOR commanders.

Kosovo officials at the time boycotted the ceremony due to Paskas’ presence there.

The Albanian-majority province unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, despite fierce opposition from Belgrade.

The move has been recognized by 69 countries, including the U.S. and most European Union members, but Serbia still insists Kosovo is its southern province.

June 02, 2010

AFP

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