Kosovo

MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) - NATO troops in Kosovo patrolled the Serb stronghold of north Mitrovica alone on Tuesday after police withdrew following deadly Serb riots.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Sunday. The United States and many, but not all, European countries recognized it. The Serbian government did not impose an economic blockade on — or take any military action against — Kosovo, although it declared the Albanian leadership of Kosovo traitors to Serbia.

Kosovo, one of the smallest territories in Europe, is casting a large shadow on the diplomatic landscape as the deadline nears for determining its international status. "My sense is that the clock is running out on the issue," says Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations and former U.S. National Security Council director for European Affairs. The United Nations set a deadline of today for resolving the political status of the Serbian province, which has been internationally administered since NATO ousted the forces of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in 1999 to halt an attack on Kosovo's mainly ethnic Albanian population.

NATO has stated that it will maintain its KFOR Kosovo peace force at present levels, and will supply new troops as necessary to counter any violence in the province, as Serbia spoke of "war" on Friday. "KFOR shall remain in Kosovo on the basis of UN Security Council resolution 1244, unless the Security Council decides otherwise. We renew our commitment to maintain KFOR's national force, contributions, including reserves, at current levels," the NATO communique said after a meeting of foreign ministers of the 26-nation alliance.

"We are having trouble generating forces for all the missions that NATO, the EU, the UN and others need for missions around the world," said James Appathurai, the alliance's spokesman. The scope and size of the NATO response force would be reassessed, he said.