Post by Fender on Feb 7, 2008 20:04:10 GMT -5
Commander says Kosovo security uncertain
Published: Feb. 7, 2008 at 7:54 PM
Print story Email to a friend Font size:PRISTINA, Serbia, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A British commander in Kosovo is helping shape the security of the region by acting sometimes as a defense minister and other times like a chief of staff.
Maj. Gen. Martin Rutledge has spent the last nine months in Kosovo supervising the Kosovo Protection Corps, formerly known as the Kosovo Liberation Army, working to keep peace in the volatile region in anticipation of a potential independence announcement, the British Ministry of Defense reported.
Rutledge has been working as part of the U.N. Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo as the KPC coordinator in what he says is a quasi ministry of defense role. "Put loosely, I am a mixture of minister for defense or for the KPC and chief of the KPC staff' -- acting on behalf of UNMIK's Special Representative to the Secretary-General of the U.N.," Rutledge said in a statement.
Many critics have been voicing their concerns about the region if Kosovo does declare independence and whether it will be recognized. Rutledge says the resulting security situation on the ground is unpredictable.
"The overall situation in Kosovo is always unpredictable," Rutledge says. "It must be prudent for NATO and UNMIK to work on the assumption that the reserve force may well deploy as there is certainly plenty of potential that the security situation could deteriorate."
Rutledge says that despite the potential for violence, many people in the region clearly remember what happened during the conflict in the late-90s and will resist aggression.
"There are plenty of people in the KPC who have seen the impact of inter-ethnic conflict and have no wish to go back to it and understand that having a sensible relationship with ethnic minorities in the country is the way ahead," Rutledge says. "Indeed they aspire to be members of a new force that is professional, democratic and open to all elements of Kosovo society."
Published: Feb. 7, 2008 at 7:54 PM
Print story Email to a friend Font size:PRISTINA, Serbia, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A British commander in Kosovo is helping shape the security of the region by acting sometimes as a defense minister and other times like a chief of staff.
Maj. Gen. Martin Rutledge has spent the last nine months in Kosovo supervising the Kosovo Protection Corps, formerly known as the Kosovo Liberation Army, working to keep peace in the volatile region in anticipation of a potential independence announcement, the British Ministry of Defense reported.
Rutledge has been working as part of the U.N. Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo as the KPC coordinator in what he says is a quasi ministry of defense role. "Put loosely, I am a mixture of minister for defense or for the KPC and chief of the KPC staff' -- acting on behalf of UNMIK's Special Representative to the Secretary-General of the U.N.," Rutledge said in a statement.
Many critics have been voicing their concerns about the region if Kosovo does declare independence and whether it will be recognized. Rutledge says the resulting security situation on the ground is unpredictable.
"The overall situation in Kosovo is always unpredictable," Rutledge says. "It must be prudent for NATO and UNMIK to work on the assumption that the reserve force may well deploy as there is certainly plenty of potential that the security situation could deteriorate."
Rutledge says that despite the potential for violence, many people in the region clearly remember what happened during the conflict in the late-90s and will resist aggression.
"There are plenty of people in the KPC who have seen the impact of inter-ethnic conflict and have no wish to go back to it and understand that having a sensible relationship with ethnic minorities in the country is the way ahead," Rutledge says. "Indeed they aspire to be members of a new force that is professional, democratic and open to all elements of Kosovo society."