British troops arrive in Kosovo - News in brief - Evening Standard
       

British troops arrive in Kosovo

Around 200 British peacekeepers are arriving in Kosovo to boost security in the new country.

The troops are the first of 600 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles that will be sent to Kosovo's ethnically tense north to boost Nato's peacekeeping force.

They come as Kosovo's authorities prepare to take control of the country from the United Nations on June 15, almost four months after declaring independence from Serbia.

Germany, Italy and Britain each provide a battalion of around 600 troops in reserve to back up Nato and European union forces in the Balkans. Nato commands 16,000 troops in Kosovo.

The deployment is the first such reinforcement from Britain in four years. In 2004 British peacekeepers were rushed into Kosovo to quell ethnic riots.

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