Under KFOR tutelage, KPC trains
to become emergency services force
Story and photos by Gregory
Piatt, Kosovo bureau
A Kosovo Protection Corps
instructor shows his comrades how to find their direction without a compass at an exercise
on Thursday. |
Under the watchful eyes of U.S. KFOR troops, the Kosovo Protection Corps trained last
week in techniques that would help members respond to disasters in the Yugoslav province.
In the weeklong exercise in the hills outside the town of Brasaljce in the U.S. sector
of Kosovo, several hundred KPC members learned how to navigate mountainous terrain; read a
compass and a map; find directions without a compass; locate, identify and report land
mines; fight fires; build and cross a rope bridge; and provide first aid and medical
evacuation.
The training came at a politically sensitive time, because Macedonian officials and
media have accused the West — particularly NATO, KFOR and the United States — of
helping ethnic Albanian rebels in their fight against government forces in Kosovo’s
neighbor to the south.
The Macedonians claim KFOR has trained and equipped KPC members who have gone on to
join the ranks of the National Liberation Army fighting in northern parts of Macedonia.
Some KPC members have gone on to fight with the rebels, according to U.S. State
Department officials. But individuals, not the Corps itself, are supporting the guerrillas
in Macedonia, the United States said.
Brig. Gen. William David
shakes hands with KPC commander Agim Ceku while visiting a KPC training site on Thursday. |
The commander of U.S. troops in Kosovo also dismissed the accusations, saying U.S.
troops and the KPC "are no way linked to the baseless accusations in the sensational
press in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia."
"The problems [there] are [Macedonia] problems and don’t have anything to do
with [Multinational Brigade-East]," Brig. Gen. William David said before touring the
training site on Thursday.
David added he didn’t want what the United States calls partnership training and
the relationship with the 5,000-member KPC to be "held hostage" by the
accusations.
Last week’s training was set up by the KPC with assistance from U.S. troops to
help transform the Corps into a civilian emergency services organization, David said.
KPC commander Agim Ceku, who also attended the exercise, called the training with U.S.
soldiers a "significant day" for the KPC.
"This is a new sort of training for the KPC," said Ceku, who added the KPC is
preoccupied with transforming former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas into a civilian
emergency services organization.
Ceku has been trying to improve the reputation of the KPC after several recent
suspensions of top commanders for involvement in the Macedonia conflict, and the arrest of
some of its members on charges of murder, kidnapping, weapons violations and extortion.
A KPC trainer shows Corps
members how to find land mines by probing the ground with a stick. |
KPC members saluted both David and Ceku as they stopped at the different stations where
they were training.
KPC instructors’ teaching methods were validated by about 20 U.S. soldiers.
"It’s pretty interesting to work with them," said Army Sgt. Michael
Shuman from the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry
Regiment. "They have a great grasp of things."
"These guys are high speed," said Army Sgt. Darius Dlugoss of the same unit.
"They know more than I thought they would. And they taught us some stuff, too."
KPC trainers set up their stations on Monday and Tuesday and U.S. soldiers then
evaluated teaching methods, said Sgt. Namon Shipley, the noncommissioned officer in charge
of the U.S. detachment at the training site. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 100 KPC
members a day underwent the training.
"They are at each station for about 20 minutes and then they take a written
test," Shipley said.
The training is for emergency response, not military purposes, said 2nd Lt. Dave
Stalker of the 11th Engineer Battalion, who worked with the KPC on locating mines.
"The more they learn, the more it brings a peacekeeping shape to their
organization," Stalker said.
U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Dave
Stalker, second from the right, talks to KPC members about finding land mines during the
KPC's training on Thursday. |
Other soldiers, who asked not to be named, questioned whether some of the members might
use the training for military purposes in Macedonia.
"Some of these guys were bad guys and they could be [bad guys] in the
future," one U.S. soldier said.
"I have no doubt that some of these guys will end up fighting in Macedonia,"
another soldier said.
"The KPC has a large reserve component and they take large blocks of leave in the
summer," said a third soldier.
"It would be interesting to see how the forces of the NLA have swelled this summer
because of the [KPC] leave."
But that same soldier said it would be wrong to get rid of the KPC. By keeping the
Corps, it is easier for KFOR keep an eye on its members.
"As the saying goes, you keep your friends close and you keep your enemies
closer," the soldier said.
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