From a ‘Terrorist’ Group to a ‘Civil Defence’ Corps: The ‘Transformation’ of the Kosovo Liberation Army

The Kosovo Liberation Army, which was regarded as a ‘terrorist’ group in the early 1990s, has now been ‘transformed’ into the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) with the primary objective of protecting this war-torn province against ‘natural’ disasters. The creation of a ‘civilian’, uniformed and ‘multi-ethnic’ corps is a unique experience for the international community as it has been undertaken by a United Nations interim administration within the sovereignty of a state-the now defunct Federal Republic of Yugoslavia-that had no input during the planning or implementation of this transformation process. In fact, if it ends up comprising the core of a future Kosovar army, as its members hope it will, the KPC is likely to pose a direct threat to the sovereignty of Serbia and Montenegro over Kosovo. This article explores the KPC transformation experience with a security sector reform perspective, focusing on institutional, political, financial and security aspects in order to identify lessons that can inform similar processes elsewhere.