The Ministry of Defence authorised on Friday the use of tear-gas by the Finnish peacekeepers in Kosovo to control and prevent riots and street violence.
By and by the Ministry plans to allow the use of harassing agents in all future peacekeeping missions by Finnish troops.
The peacekeeping unit in Kosovo has already received new shields, helmets, riot-control barriers, and grenade pistols with tear-gas shells. According to information officer Elli Flen of the Finnish KFOR unit, the troops have already started their training in the use of grenade pistols.
Apparently the use of water cannons would also be admissible within the terms of the Act on Peacekeeping, but so far the unit is not equipped with any.
The acquisition of the latest riot prevention gear is a direct result of last spring's disturbances between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority where a few Finnish peacekeepers also sustained minor injuries.
The problem was that between a baton and the deadly weapon of an assault rifle the Finnish troops lacked appropriate tools with which to tackle and quell the situation.
The use of firearms is only permissible if a peacekeeper's life or that of his or her comrades is seriously threatened.
The general-level commander of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping forces in Kosovo decides on the use of tear-gas.
