BERLIN: Germany plans to beef up its peacekeeping force in Kosovo at NATO's request amid fears of renewed ethnic clashes between Serbs and Albanians in the leadup to elections in Serbia on May 6, the armed forces said on Saturday.
Majority Albanian Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 but Belgrade does not recognise the secession.
Tensions have risen in recent weeks after Serbia said it planned to include its former province in next month's local, parliamentary and presidential elections.
A German-Austrian reserve batallion will start to deploy on May 1, the German Bundeswehr said in a statement.
"NATO and the European Union assess that the KFOR (NATO peacekeeping) forces now in the field may not be enough to be able to react adequately to possible Kosovo-wide security incidents during the elections," the statement said.
The German weekly Spiegel said some 550 additional German and Austrian troops would be deployed temporarily in the province, mainly in the Serb-dominated northern part of Kosovo where ethnic clashes have periodically erupted.
NATO currently has about 6,000 KFOR troops deployed in Kosovo.
Serbia became an official candidate for membership of the European Union in March after offering a series of small concessions on Kosovo. It is under EU pressure to normalise relations with its former province.
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