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Kosovo Protection Corps
Trupat e Mbrojtjes së Kosovës
	Flag of the Kosovo Protection Corps
Predecessor	Kosovo Liberation Army
Successor	Kosovo Security Force
Established	September 20, 1999
Dissolved	June 14, 2009; 15 years ago
Type	Civilian emergency services
Legal status	Defunct
Focus	Disaster response, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, demining, rebuilding infrastructure and communities
Headquarters	Pristina
Location	Kosovo;
Budget	US$ 25.4 million (0.79%)
Website	Archived website

The Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC; Albanian: Trupat e Mbrojtjes së Kosovës, TMK) was a civilian emergency services organization in Kosovo active from 1999 until 2009.

The KPC was created on 1999, through the promulgation of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Regulation 1999/8 and the agreement of a "Statement of Principles" on the KPC's permitted role in Kosovo.^[1]^[2] In effect, it was a compromise between the disarmament of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which was stipulated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244,^[3] and rejected by the Kosovo Albanians.

History

Immediately after the end of the Kosovo War in June 1999^[4] and the dislocation of NATO forces in Kosovo, emerged the need for the definition of the KLA role in accordance with the new situation. UNSC 1244, approved in June 1999, included KLA demilitarization. Therefore, the same month, KFOR Commander, General Mike Jackson and Hashim Thaçi, as General Commander of KLA, who at the time was Prime Minister of the Provisional Government in Kosovo, signed the Kumanovo Agreement. Upon the completion of the demilitarization process, in 20 September 1999 the UN Special Representative Bernard Kouchner signed Regulation no. 1999/8 for the foundation of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), which then was followed by the Declaration of Principles, signed by the KPC Commander and the KFOR Commander. After the formation of the KPC, Serbs claimed it was a new ethnic Albanian army and resigned from the multiethnic Kosovo Transitional Council.^[5]^[6] Immediately following the approval of these acts, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) initiated the registration campaign of the former KLA fighters, lasting from July to November 1999. According to IOM documents the total registration amounted to 25,723 members.^[7] Around 5,000 former KLA fighters joined KPC.^[8]^[9]

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 demining;
Contribute to rebuilding infrastructure and communities.

The Kosovo Protection Corps had no role in defense, law enforcement, riot control, internal security or any other law and order tasks.^[2] The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, the head of UNMIK, exercised direction, funding and administrative authority over the KPC. The Commander of KFOR, the NATO peacekeeping force, was in charge of exercising day-to-day supervision of the KPC. The KPC had 5,052 members,^[10] and a budget of €17.6 million (US$25.4 million)^[11] representing about 0.79% of GDP.^[12]

The KPC's first commander was Agim Çeku, who resigned from the organization in 2006 to become Prime Minister of Kosovo.^[13] KPC deputy commander Sylejman Selimi, a former KLA leader, replaced Çeku as commander.^[14] The KPC was divided into six regional "Protection Zones," each with a regional commander.^[15] By 2001, each had an explosive ordnance disposal team, and there was a further centrally controlled team, making a total of seven teams.^[16] There have been allegations that KPC was involved in criminal activities, illegal policing, killings and terrorist attacks against Serbs.^[17] UNMIK police officers claimed that KPC officers arrested for crimes were released on the orders of top regional KFOR commanders.^[9] In June 2001, several senior officers in the KPC were removed for suspicion of aiding the ethnic Albanian insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia.^[18] In August 2003, Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Nebojša Čović accused the KPC and the Albanian National Army of being behind an attack on Serbs in Kosovo.^[19]

Kosovo Albanians considered the KPC a potential nucleus of a future Kosovo army.^[20] Finnish politician Martti Ahtisaari presented his proposal regarding the final status of Kosovo, where he suggested the dissolution of the KPC and the establishment of a lightly armed Kosovo Security Force (KSF). Due to a Russian veto, the United Nations Security Council did not endorse his proposal. Kosovo declared independence in February 2008. In January 20, 2009, KPC ceased its operations.^[21] Kosovo's Assembly passed the 'Law on the Dissolution of the Kosovo Protection Corps' in June.^[22] The organization disbanded on June 14.^[21] It was succeeded by KSF.^[23]

References

^ "UNITED NATIONS - UNMIK". unmik.unmissions.org. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo - Serbia | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. December 23, 1999. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
^ "RESOLUTION 1244 (1999)". undocs.org. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
^ NATO (June 9, 1999). "Military Technical Agreement between the International Security Force ("KFOR") and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia". Retrieved August 15, 2008.
^ "Serbs Resign From Kosovo Council, Citing New Corps". Los Angeles Times. September 23, 1999.
^ "Who's Killing Whom In Kosovo". International Crisis Group. November 2, 1999.
^ Isabel Ströhle. "The Politics of Reintegration and War Commemoration. The Case of the Kosovo Liberation Army". Comparative Southeast European Studies. 58 (4): 493–494. doi:10.1515/soeu-2010-580404.
^ "What Happened to the KLA?". International Crisis Group. March 3, 2000. Archived from the original on August 8, 2009.
^ ^a ^b Andreas Heinemann-Grüder; Igor Grebenschikov (2006). "Security governance by internationals: The case of Kosovo". International Peacekeeping. 13 (1): 46–47. doi:10.1080/13533310500424744.
^ "KPC's History and Mission". KPC. 2007. Archived from the original on December 2, 2007.
^ "Budget". KPC. 2011. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011.
^ UNMIK "Fact Sheet: Kosovo In April 2007" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2008. (126 KiB): 2006 GDP according to the International Monetary Fund is € 2.227 billion (preliminary estimate).
^ Michael Jonsson; Svante Cornell, eds. (2014). Conflict, Crime, and the State in Postcommunist Eurasia. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 263. ISBN 9780812208986.
^ "For Kosovo's Former Fighters, a New Battle Begins". Balkan Insight. January 14, 2019.
^ Robert Muharremi; Alisa Ramadani (2024). Transforming a Guerilla Into a Regular Army: From the Kosovo Liberation Army to the Army of the Republic of Kosovo. Springer Nature. p. 51. ISBN 9783031628177.
^ Steven E. Saunders (2003). "Kosovo After the UNMACC and Beyond". Journal of Mine Action. 7 (2): 38.
^ Aidan Hehir (2010). Kosovo, Intervention and Statebuilding: The International Community and the Transition to Independence. Routledge. p. 135. ISBN 9781135169213.
^ Pugh, Michael Charles; Sidhu, Waheguru Pal Singh (2003). The United Nations & Regional Security: Europe and Beyond. Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 126–127. ISBN 978-1-58826-232-5.
^ "Undermining Kosovo's future - Serbia". reliefweb.int. August 25, 2003. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
^ James Ker-Lindsay (2012). "The UN and the Post-intervention Stabilization of Kosovo". Ethnopolitics. 11 (4): 397. doi:10.1080/17449057.2012.697652.
^ ^a ^b Robert Elsie (2010). Historical Dictionary of Kosovo. Scarecrow Press. pp. 158–159. ISBN 9780810874831.
^ Vesna Bojičić Dželilović; James Ker-Lindsay; Denisa Kostovicova, eds. (2013). Civil Society and Transitions in the Western Balkans. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 203. ISBN 9781137296252.
^ "New Kosovo Security Force Launched, Belgrade Wary". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. January 21, 2009.