Kosovo Security Force

The NATO secretary general said on Wednesday that NATO (foreign ministers) at their meeting discussed Kosovo's intention to transform the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) into an "army."

"Such a step is coming at a wrong time," he said.

The spokesperson of the Kosovo Security Force Ministry, Ibrahim Shala, confirmed on Sunday that an explosive device was found strapped to a tree on the property of a member of Kosovo Security Force, KSF, on Saturday evening in Serb-run North Mitrovica in northern Kosovo.

Last week, the Kosovo assembly adopted three draft laws on the transformation of the KSF, with Serb List members of the assembly opposed, Albanian language paper Zeri is reporting. The aim was to circumvent the constitutional changes, which must have be supported by the Serbs.

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.

Following the resignation of a number of Serbian members of the Kosovo Security Force, KSF, the Kosovar Center for Security Studies, KCSS, has published a report blaming Serbian government pressure.

According to the KCSS, the pressure on Serbian KSF members and their mass withdrawal constituted an act of "brutal interference" by Serbia with a Kosovo state institution.

A NATO official told Radio Free Europe on Thursday that "any change in the structure, mandate, and mission of the KSF will require constitutional amendments" and that it "supports the development of the force under its current mandate."

The KSF s also described as "a professional, multi-ethnic force, and a source of regional stability," Beta reported.

Kosovo's government on Thursday approved a new bill on the Kosovo Security Force, KSF, expanding its competences but avoiding the need for constitutional changes required to change it into a regular army. 

The proposal came from Rrustem Berisha, Minister of the Kosovo Security Force, and provides for the gradual transformation of the FSK.

We have encouraged the government to work methodically on the transitioning of the KSF and to continue its campaign in Kosovo, as well as with international partners, to secure maximal support for this transition," the embassy said in a written reply to Albanian language newspaper Koha, adding:

Kosovo Government is planning to establish the Army through changes that would broaden the responsibilities of the existing Kosovo Security Force (KSF) as one of the modalities to bypass a Serb veto. The KSF Ministry pledges that by 30 April they will proceed the Draft Law on Army to the Government, Gazeta Express reports.

Kosovo Police have launched an investigation after the town of Zubin Potok, in Serb-run northern Kosovo, was plastered with pamphlets saying members of the local Serbian community members who worked for the Kosovo Security Forces, KSF, would be dealt with.

The pamphlet was signed by an unknown group called Severna Armija [Northern Army].