NATO ready to deploy more troops to quell unrest in Kosovo, Stoltenberg says

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said the alliance is prepared to deploy more troops to Kosovo to quell violence in the ethnically polarized north, and the first 700 reinforcement troops are on the way there.

"NATO will remain vigilant. We will be there to ensure a safe and secure environment, and also to calm down and reduce tensions", he told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Oslo, according to Reuters.

Unrest in Kosovo's north has intensified since ethnic Albanian mayors took office in the region's Serb-majority area after April elections boycotted by the Serbs, a move that led the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina.

NATO decided to boost its 4,000-strong mission in the region with 700 additional troops after 30 of its KFOR peacekeepers and 52 ethnic Serb protesters were hurt on May 29.

Stoltenberg called the violence against NATO troops "totally unacceptable" and said allies were readying more troops in case NATO needed to send additional reinforcements to the region.

"Our message both to Belgrade and to Pristina is that they have to engage in good faith in the EU-facilitated dialogue," he added.