Kosovo Assembly MP from the Democratic League of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, said at the round-table organized by Kosovar Centre for Security Studies, that Kosovo cannot wait for Serbia to change its rhetoric with regards to the independence of Kosovo.
Kosovo Assembly MP from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), considers the fact that the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci discussed transformation of KSF with the Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic, and not with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, unacceptable and hurting.
He said that this is a mistake made by the President, and added that except for the PM Mustafa, he should have also consulted numerous experts of military matters.
PRISTINA — Kosovo marked another milestone in its state-building process this week by moving to establish Kosovo’s own defense forces. A multi-ethnic organization established post-independence under strict scrutiny from NATO, the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) will soon assume a new role as a military defense force.
Enver Robelli writes today in his opinion piece that Hashim Thaci’s and his dependents’ concerns, are not Kosovo’s concerns, therefore Pristina should coordinate with NATO, the U.S. and the EU with regards to the creation of the army.
The government of Kosovo has issued a press release saying that it will review the draft law on Kosovo Security Force (KSF) transformation as soon as it receives it from the Assembly and make sure it is in line with the Constitution of Kosovo. The press release states that the draft law was proposed by President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, but that Prime Minister of Kosovo, Isa Mustafa, was informed on the initiative on 5 March before Thaci announced it during a visit to KSF barracks.
NATO and the United States warned Wednesday they could scale back cooperation with Kosovo's security services if the government goes ahead with plans to transform its lightly-armed security force into an army without the required constitutional changes.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he told Kosovo's leaders by telephone "that unilateral steps such as these are unhelpful." He warned that if Kosovo goes ahead as planned "NATO will have to review its level of commitment, particularly in terms of capacity-building."
The United States said Wednesday that it was "concerned" by Kosovo's plans to convert its security force into a regular army without a constitutional amendment — a move sure to infuriate Serbia.
"We support the gradual transparent transformation of the Kosovo Security Force into a multiethnic force in line with NATO standards," a statement from the embassy in Pristina said.
http://www.voanews.com/a/nato-us-warn-kosovo-against-move-to-form-army/3755434.html
Kosovar President Hashim Thaci says there is "no turning back" from his plan to transform the Balkan country's lightly armed security force into a national army, brushing off strongly voiced concern from NATO and the United States.
The security force "will be transformed into a Kosovo army," Thaci told RFE/RL on March 8, seeming to dismiss warnings from the U.S. Embassy and the Western military alliance against making the change without amending the constitution.
SNF calls Aleksandar Vučić to prevent Members of the Serbian List to vote, or to possibly provide a quorum for the establishing of the army of Kosovo.
"With regard to Serbian MPs who broke the boycott of the Kosovo Assembly from the SNS party, Serbian National Forum invites SNS's President and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, to prevent them from voting, or possibly providing a quorum for such a dangerous precedent in the Balkans with far-reaching consequences" , the SNF statement said.
CI SDP condemns any attempt of transformation of the Kosovo Security Forces into something that may seem aggressive and threatening, and this idea can be understood only in that manner among the non-Albanians and Serbs, the statement said.