The Kosovo parliament on Friday adopted three government-proposed bills paving the way for the transformation of the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF), the local armed police force, into a fully-fledged standing military. The move was slammed by Belgrade, which said that this was in violation of international agreements.

The three bills which deal with Kosovo’s defence department say that Kosovo security forces protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the citizens, property, and interests of the country, describing its army as a multiethnic professional armed force authorised for deployment in Kosovo and abroad.

According to the Belgrade-based news agency Tanjug, the wording was adjusted in accordance to recommendations made by the European Commission.

However, the move has drawn criticism and condemnation from Serbia and the international community. NATO officials and member states said that the timing for this is not right, and that the whole thing had to have been done by amending the constitution of Kosovo.

“Establishing Kosovo army is against international law,” Serbian MPs say

Meanwhile, some Serbian officials said they feared that an army controlled by Pristina would put in jeopardy ethnic Serbs living in Albanian-dominated Kosovo.  

Speaking to the Serbian state broadcaster RTS hours before the vote in Kosovo’s parliament, two MPs of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) called Kosovo’s military an “illegal formation” which is being created in violation of international law, with the support of the United States and leading NATO members.

MP Milovan Drecun (SNS) who heads the Serbian Parliament’s Kosovo Committee said that Pristina’s decision to form an army is the final stage of what he said is the legalisation of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a paramilitary force which had been formally disbanded and disarmed in 1999 by the international peacekeeping force KFOR.

Drecun said that although Kosovo Albanians are unlikely to undertake any large scale military operations, the new armed force could be used against Kosovo Serbs since the force will be given mandate to provide support to Kosovo’s civilian authorities, and could then be used to take control of northern Kosovo which is majority-populated by ethnic Serbs.  

MP Miroslav Lazanski (SNS), a columnist and military analyst for Belgrade daily Politika, said that transformation of the Kosovo Security Force into a military is exactly what had been announced, and what the Americans had sponsored and approved.

Lazanski also said the move is against international law, adding that under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 the only military formation in Kosovo is supposed to be the international peacekeepers KFOR. 

NATO: The timing is not right for Pristina’s move

Top NATO officials on Friday expressed concern and warned of possible negative consequences of Pristina’s decision to start the process of forming a military force.

NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg voiced regret over Kosovo Parliament’s decision, and added that the time was not right for making that step.

He called on all political players to show restraint, and invited Pristina and Belgrade to continue their dialogue under the auspices of the European Union.

“Although the transition of security forces is in principle a question that Kosovo decides, we said clearly that the moment is not good for that step,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.

He added that NATO supports the development of the KSF in line with its current mandate as a law enforcement force, but that the change in its legally defined purpose now means that NATO would have to review the level of its engagement with the KSF.

KFOR is an international peacekeeping force which consists of some 4,000 troops from about 30 countries, the majority of which are NATO members. The single largest contributing country is the United States, which currently stations more than 600 American soldiers and personnel based at the Camp Bondsteel military base in eastern Kosovo.

“NATO will remain committed to securing a safe environment in Kosovo through KFOR, as well as stability in the Western Balkans,” Stoltenberg said, and warned that both sides have to make sure that the decision does not lead to further tensions in the region.

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