Kosovo Armed Forces Debate Restored

These comments, President Thaci has made during a debate organised by the Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (QKSS) and the UN Security Policy Research Centre (SPRC) on the subject: “The Serbian community's stance on changing the mandate of the Kosovo Security Force”.

Kosovo's “Armed Forces pose no threat to anyone. The purpose of the Kosovo Security Force today, and of the Armed Forces tomorrow, remains the same, hence empowering peace and stability in the region and preserving security for all citizens of the country”, Thaci has declared.

According to him, the process of transforming the KSF into the Armed Forces is going to the end.

He has, however, acknowledged that not only debates but also views remain different about this transformation.

“The focus of debates is whether this process should be completed through legal or constitutional changes. Some NATO states, due to political circumstances, say they should only conclude with constitutional changes”, Thaci has said.

But, to be clear, no one can block it or veto”, he underlined.

NATO position and Western states that helped Kosovo in the process of declaring independence was that Kosovo institutions should also secure the votes of minority communities representatives, respectively, for necessary constitutional changes, before the KSF is transformed into a future Kosovo army.

But Kosovo institutions have failed to receive the support of Serbian representatives, who have been declared on several occasions that they will not support the formation of the Kosovo Armed Forces.

As a reserve option, President Thaci himself and the past composition of the Parliament tried to make this transformation through legal changes, but such an initiative was not supported by the international factor, in particular by NATO.

Verolub Petronic, executive director of HumaniCentar and security field researcher from Northern Mitrovica, has spoken of the disgust Kosovo Serbs have towards the Kosovo Armed Forces. According to him, the Security Force was the successor of the Kosovo Armed Corps, which was the structure of the former Kosovo Liberation Army. Thus, even the Security Forces could be regarded as descendants of these structures.

This creates fears in Serbs”, Petronic stressed. The establishment of the Kosovo Armed Forces, he underlined, will depend on the dialogue Pristina holds with Belgrade in Brussels under the European Union's mediation.

Decision over the military in agreement with Belgrade has been rejected by President Thaci. He said Belgrade's interest in the Serb minority community in Kosovo does not imply the mixing of Serbia in internal affairs and decision making in Kosovo.

The Kosovo Security Force was established in 2009 under the Ahtisaari Plan, a document leading to Kosovo's independence. This force has been established under NATO supervision, but its mission and capacities do not coincide with the ambition of institutions, for Kosovo to have its own army.

For more than three years, the KSF fulfilled operational capacities, and authorities in the country launched the security sector revision process, demanding more competence for this facility that would lead to military creation.

This, however, should be done with constitutional changes requiring two-thirds of the deputies, including two-thirds of the minority deputies. But rejection of official Serbian deputies has hampered the process of constitutional changes