Mission
UNMIK Regulation 1999/8 assigned the following tasks to the KPC:
- Provide a disaster response capability to tackle major fires, industrial accidents or toxic spills;
- Conduct search and rescue operations;
- Provide humanitarian assistance;
- Assist in de-mining;
- Contribute to rebuilding infrastructure and communities.
The Kosovo Protection Corps has no role in defence, law enforcement, riot control, internal security or any other law and order tasks. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG), the head of the UN in Kosovo, exercises direction, funding and administrative authority over the KPC. The Commander of KFOR, the NATO-peacekeeping force, is in charge of exercising day-to-day supervision of the KPC.
The KPC's first commander was Agim Çeku, who resigned from the organisation in 2006 to become Prime Minister of Kosovo. Lieutenant General Sylejman Selimi, a former KLA military leader, is the commander. The KPC is divided into six regional "Protection Zones," each with a regional commander. By 2001, each had an explosive ordnance disposal team, and there was a further centrally controlled team, making a total of seven teams. Allegations of misconduct and discipline violations have dogged the KPC since its formation. In June 2001, several senior officers in the KPC were removed for suspicion of aiding the ethnic Albanian insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia.
The province is the subject of a long-running political and territorial dispute between the Serbian (and previously, the Yugoslav) government and Kosovo's ethnic Albanians. Most Albanians consider the KPC a potential nucleus of a future army should Kosovo win independence. International negotiations began in 2006 to determine the final status of Kosovo (see Kosovo status process) which led in 2007 to proposals for 'supervised independence' which did not gain approval from the UN Security Council. Those proposals called for the disbanding of the KPC within one year and the establishment of a new and lightly armed Kosovo Security Force (KSF).
In 2008 the KPC is standing down, with the simultaneous formation of the KSF. Their role will include explosive ordnance disposal as well as response to civil emergencies. The KSF has required that all prospective members apply, and that having served in the KPC does not guarantee a position with the KSF.
The KPC had 5,052 members, and a budget of €17.6 million (US$25.4 million) representing ca. 0.79% of GDP.
Read more about this topic: Kosovo Protection Corps
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