Eurasia Press & News
Pristina _ The transformation of Kosovo’s Protection Corps, TMK, into Kosovo’s Security Forces, KSF, has been postponed until January because of delays in appointed a chief.
The Kosovo’s Protection Corps, which is mostly made of former fighters from the Kosovo Liberation Army, will continue providing additional security along with NATO peacekeepers, until January.
The Kosovo Protection Corps, is a 3,500-strong civil protection force backed up by some 2,000 reservists.
It was supposed to be transformed into the Kosovo Security Forces on December 10 but this has been delayed because of the failure to appoint a new commander-in-chief.
NATO allies agreed in June to take on the training of the new force as part of moves to reshape the international security presence in Kosovo since its Western-backed declaration of independence from Serbia in February.
The step is sensitive in the alliance because some allies such as Spain have not recognised Kosovo’s independence and so are wary of anything that gives it the accessories of statehood.
NATO has stressed the new force is not an army, nor was it expected to take on military tasks. Police-type duties such as riot control could be included in its remit, the alliance adds.
