Kosovo Protection Corps

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

The KPC was created on 21 September 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. In effect, it was a compromise between the disarmament of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which was stipulated by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, and rejected by the Kosovo Albanians.

History
Immediately after the end of the Kosovo War in June 1999 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 September 1999 the UN Special Representative Bernard Kouchner signed Regulation no. 1999/8 for the foundation of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), which then is followed by the Declaration of Principles, signed by the KPC Commander and the KFOR Commander.

Immediately following the approval of these acts, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) initiated the registration campaign of the KLA fighters, lasting from July to November 1999. According to IOM documents the total registration amounted to 25,723 members. A number of KLA personnel joined the Kosovo Police.

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 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, the head of UNMIK, 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, was the replacement commander for Çeku until 2009. The KPC was 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.

In August 2003, the KPC got into controversy with UNMIK after it allegedly killed one of their officers, Satish Menon, in an ambush. UNMIK and Serbia claimed the newly illegal Albanian National Army was the perpetrator, but the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Nebojša Čović, claimed that the KPC also had connections to the attack.

The province is the subject of a long-running political and territorial dispute between the Serbian government and Kosovo 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 which led in 2007 to proposals for 'supervised independence' which did not gain approval from UNSC. 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 began dwindling down with the simultaneous formation of the new 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 about 0.79% of GDP.

Engagements

 * Leposavić ambush