Serbia and Kosovo leaders to address UN about Kosovan army

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The presidents of Serbia and Kosovo are scheduled to address the U.N. Security Council amid heightened tensions following Kosovo's decision to transform its existing 4,000-strong security force into a regular army.

The Security Council meeting will be held Monday afternoon.

Serbia, which does not recognize Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence, has warned that a national Kosovo army in what it still considers Serbian territory could result in armed intervention.

Kosovo's President Hashim Thaci said Sunday that its parliament's decision to turn the security force into an army is "irreversible."

Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Sunday that President Aleksandar Vucic will insist that the army was formed in violation of a U.N. resolution that ended Serbia's crackdown on Kosovar separatists from 1998 to 1999.