"NATO does not decide on Kosovo army"

"NATO does not decide on Kosovo army"

"The Kosovo authorities decide on their own whether to transform the KSF into a conventional army," he said.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has recently announced that the KSF "would be renamed next week as the Kosovo Armed Forces, with NATO's full support."

KSF is a security force comprising approximately 2,500 active duty and 800 reserve members, whose mission is currently limited to civil protection operations and assisting the civil authorities in responding to natural disasters and other emergencies.

According to the Ahtisaari plan, which Priština had accepted, members of this unit are only allowed to carry light firearms.

Thaci and Minister of Security Forces Agim Ceku plan to transform the KSF into "a conventional army with all the attributes that this entails," Tanjug said.