Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen (S) was in Kosovo on Friday to show her support for the Danish soldiers’ efforts in the country.
Read more about the mission in Kosovo here:
* On June 12, 1999, the first NATO soldiers drove into Kosovo, which was then a Serbian province.
* Kosovo declared itself an independent state in 2008. Until then, Kosovo was part of Serbia. The majority of the population is Kosovo Albanian.
* Denmark was involved from the start of the operation in 1999, and since then more than 10,000 Danish soldiers have served as part of the NATO mission.
* NATO intervened in the conflict because the Serbian government was trying to quell a Kosovo Albanian uprising in which over a million people were driven into exile.
* Since then, Danish soldiers have helped to create peace and stability in the area. The mission helps maintain peace and security in a formerly conflict-ridden corner of Europe.
* In the beginning, 800 Danish forces were present in Kosovo. The Danish contribution was 875 soldiers, when it was largest.
* It is today reduced to about 30-40 Danish soldiers. They are primarily in a guard division in a French camp, while a minority are in the mission headquarters in Pristina, the country’s capital.
Source: The Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense.
Source: The Nordic Page