Kosovo Protection Corps

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Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC or TMK in Albanian) Logo.

Flag of the Kosovo Protection Corps

The Kosovo Protection Corps (Albanian: Trupat e Mbrojtjes së Kosovës) is a civilian emergency services organisation in Kosovo.

The KPC was created on September 21, 1999 through the promulgation of UNMIK Regulation 1999/8 and the agreement of a "Statement of Principles" on the KPC's permitted role in Kosovo. Its membership was initially composed largely of the Kosovo Liberation Army veterans.

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, 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 current commander. The KPC is divided into six regional "Protection Zones," each with a regional commander. 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 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, with members of the KPC invited to join the new force.

The KPC has 5,052 members,^[1] and a budget of €17.6 million (US$25.4 million)^[2] representing ca. 0.79% of GDP.^[3]