Hungarian General at the Helm of KFOR as of Oct. 15

NATO, KFOR Kosovo (BETAPHOTO/ARMENIJA ZAJMI BESEVIC/EV)

Hungarian Brigadier General Ferenc Kajari will take over command of the NATO's peacekeeping missing in Kosovo, the Kosovo Force (KFOR), as of Oct. 15, which will be the first time after more than two decades that the leading KFOR post goes to a state of the region.

The Balkan Security Network portal reported on Oct. 13 that Kajari replaced his Italian peer, Franco Federici, whose term in office had expired. The Hungarian general is the 26th KFOR commander. He has already arrived in Pristina with his staff.

Earlier this year, when Kajari was reported to be the next KFOR commander, the Hungarian general described the security situation in Kosovo as "peaceful but fragile," adding that the area was still facing challenges.

Kajari said the chief challenges were a poor economic situation, a failure by the government to exercise its full mandate, the return of militant religious extremists from the former Islamic State, who together with organized criminal groups "affect a good part of the young unemployed population in Kosovo," and the migrant crisis.