Germany's new defense minister arrives in Kosovo

Germany's new defense minister, Franz Josef Jung, arrived in Kosovo Monday to visit German troops serving in the NATO-led peacekeeping force, known as KFOR. Jung traveled to the southern town of Prizren to spend time with some of the 2,600 troops based there.

Jung will be briefed by the commander of the German troops and he will have lunch with the soldiers before walking the cobblestone Ottoman-era streets in Prizren. He will also meet with the top NATO officials in this disputed province.

Kosovo, which officially remains a province of Serbia-Montenegro, have been administered by the United Nations and patrolled by NATO since 1999, following the alliance's bombing aimed at stopping Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. Jung was expected to follow his Kosovo visit with trips over the next week to other countries where German troops are serving: Bosnia, Afghanistan and Djibouti, reports the AP. I.L.