JARINJE: Nato forces in Kosovo announced on Monday that peacekeepers had stepped up patrols as Serbia deployed armoured vehicles on the border with the breakaway territory amid the worst regional tensions in a decade.

The international community, led by the European Union, is calling for talks to ease tensions between Serbia and its former ethnic-Albanian majority province, whose declaration of independence in 2008 Belgrade has never recognised.

Relations have deteriorated in the last week since the Kosovo government dispatched special police units to the north, an area mainly populated by ethnic Serbs who reject the authority of Pristina.

The move, which angered the Serbs, came after Pristina decided to require drivers with Serbian registration plates to put on temporary ones when entering Kosovo.

Hundreds of ethnic Serbs, many of whom have Serbian number plates, staged daily protests and blocked the traffic at Kosovo’s two northern border crossings with Serbia.

On Monday, the situation at the crossing was calm, despite the military stand-off nearby, according to a correspondent.

Nato helicopters have been flying over the region regularly for several days.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2021