 |  |  |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
| | |
| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Oct 16 (AFP) - Kosovo's new protection force was hailed Saturday as a new step toward the province's independence from Yugoslavia by a former political chief of Kosovar Albanian rebels.
"You represent the future, the security, peace, democratisation and the total liberation of Kosovo," Hashim Thaci told a "graduation" ceremony for the force.
Thaci, formerly political leader of the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, was not expected at the ceremony, but was invited onto the podium by Nuredin Ibishi, another former KLA commander.
The crowd of predominantly ethnic Albanian recruits, who stood up when he entered the room, applauded his comments.
Thaci, who presides over the provisional government formed in February 1998, has in the past suggested he sees this force as an embryo for a future army.
UN Kosovo administrator Bernard Kouchner told the new graduates: "You are the symbol of the break with intolerance that has dominated Kosovo for too long."
The officers are to get final training from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) before beginning patrol duties alongside United Nations police officers in two weeks' time.
Once out in the field, they will be armed only with telescopic batons. For the first five months' they will be on traffic duty with UN colleagues.
After that, they will shadow UN police on normal duties for six months. The OSCE plans is to have each Kosovar officer accompanied by two UN personnel.
The force was created as part of an international plan to demilitarise KLA rebels. It is supposed to consist of all of the province's ethnic groups but is predominantly ethnic Albanian.
The first graduating class comprises 173 new police officers -- including eight Serbs, three Bosnians, three Roms and three Turks. There are 39 women.
The UN officers, with their distinctive red and white cars, have made up the only police in the province since the international force moved in last June.
Although it was originally planned to deploy 3,000 officers, only 1,700 of them are actually on the ground.
Nearly 19,000 Kosovars applied to be trained for the new police force. The next intake will start their nine weeks of training on November 21.
The OSCE is aiming to train 6,500 Kosovar police officers over the next two years.