BRUSSELS - NATO ministers pledged on Friday to keep their KFOR peace force in Kosovo at current strength as it heads towards independence and to make more troops available as necessary to deal with any violence.
Ethnic Albanian leaders of the breakaway Serbian province are expected to declare independence in the next couple of months after the failure of international mediation, potentially sparking new unrest in the Balkans.
"KFOR shall remain in Kosovo on the basis of U.N. Security Council resolution 1244, unless the Security Council decides otherwise," ministers agreed in a final communique.
"We renew our commitment to maintain KFOR's national force, contributions, including reserves, at current levels and with no new caveats," they added, using the military term for limits that nations sometimes impose on what their troops can do.
Such caveats meant NATO was caught badly off-guard during rioting in north Kosovo in 2004 which it struggled to control. The alliance has up to four reserve battalions -- each with several hundred troops -- on standby for trouble.
International mediators will report to the United Nations on Monday that efforts to reach a compromise between Pristina and Belgrade failed. Russia wants further mediation, but the West says the time to settle Kosovo's status has come.
A diplomatic source told Reuters the report will prescribe no way forward on the fate of the breakaway province.
"It is very factual, describes what was done, and what the outcome was...Clearly Washington, Russia and the European Union cannot agree on a joint way forward."
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