Balkanalysis.com

10/23/2008: Kosovo Plans Operational Security Force in Early 2009

10/23/2008: Kosovo Plans Operational Security Force in Early 2009

(Balkanalysis.com Security & Intelligence Brief 26) The planned transformation of the KPC (‘Kosovo Protection Corps,’ referred to also by its Albanian-language acronym, TMK), is continuing with the goal of a new Kosovo Security Force (KSF). According to RTKLive.com, the KSF “…will be composed of 2500 members and will be placed in 7 bases.”

The station quotes the leader of the KSF, Fehmi Mujota, as saying that the process is nearing its end and has been executed ‘according to NATO standards and the Ahtisaari plan.’ This plan, named for the former Finnish president who engineered it, was the basis for Kosovo’s independence declared on February 17, 2008. Serbs reject the plan, citing its implicit violation of Serbian territorial integrity over Kosovo.

One potential danger of reducing the KPC during the transformation envisioned by planners was the reaction of the many KPC officers who would not make the cut, and be laid off. But the new state seems to be taking extraordinary precautions to ensure that these men do not ‘go solo’ and join paramilitaries capable of challenging state authority. According to Infopress, for those officers under 45 years of age who will be laid off, the state will offer “institutional support,” including money and retraining, to prevent them from becoming overly disgruntled.

According to Lah Nitaj, one of the minister’s advisors, “…our goal is to not leave aside any of the TMK members who will not be able to join KSF and make conditions for them and support for them.” However, Infopress added, Nitaj did not have a comment on whether some TMK officers would be rehired as regular policemen, only noting that the Kosovo government would ‘consider all possibilities in order to not leave them outside the institutions.’