NATO Urges Kosovo to 'Consult Fully' on Army Plans

NATO has said it supports the continued "development" of the Kosovo Security Force, KSF, but that major changes should follow consultation with all communities affected, and with NATO itself.

"It is important that any initiatives regarding the mandate of the Kosovo Security Force should be fully consulted with all communities in Kosovo and with NATO Allies," NATO told BIRN in a written answer.

The KSF is a professional force and source of regional stability, according to NATO, pointing out also that the alliance remains committed to guarding the security and stability of Kosovo through its running operation, KFOR.

Draft laws expanding the mandate of KSF will be sent to Kosovo's parliament soon, after being approved by Kosovo's government and the parliamentary committee on Internal Affairs, Security and Oversight of the KSF.

As rarely happens in Kosovo, the draft laws were supported on Tuesday in the parliamentary committee by all political parties, except for the Kosovo Serb representatives from Lista Srpska.

Ethnic minority Serbian MPs take their line on most issues from Serbia itself, which contests Kosovo's statehood, and strongly opposes the idea of Kosovo having a regular army.

"We are doing our job, from the President and Prime Minister down to all of us," the leader of the governing Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and the speaker of parliament, Kadri Veseli, said on Friday.

He referred to the KSF as the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, the guerrilla force that took on the Serbian police and army in the 1990s.

"It is a matter of days or weeks to the transformation of the Kosovo Liberation Army … the KSF is the KLA," he stated.

Over the last year, Kosovo institutions have tried in vain to change the KSF's...