Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told KOSOVO / KOSOVA As Seen, As Told PART II : The military/security context (Chapter 3) Contents Previous Next THE MILITARY/SECURITY CONTEXT Yugoslav forces in Kosovo, and the Kosovo Liberation Army This section of the report is intended to give an overview of the armed forces in Kosovo, both Yugoslav/ Serbian and the Kosovo Liberation Army (Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves - UCK). This chapter does not seek to give a detailed and extensive analysis of the politico-military aspects of the internal conflict in Kosovo during the period when the OSCE-KVM was in existence. The intention is rather to put the human rights analysis of this report into context by presenting an understanding of the military/security units involved, the observation of their activities as reported by the OSCE-KVM when deployed inside Kosovo until 20 March 1999, and what can be discerned of their activities and objectives after 20 March. The section will therefore seek to explain the observations made by the refugees interviewed by the OSCE-KVM in Albania and in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Armed Forces of Yugoslavia (Vojska Jugoslavije-VJ) in Kosovo The Serbian and Montenegrin ground forces are split into three armies. The 52nd Corps, based in Pristina/Prishtina, was subordinate to the Third Army, centred in the southern Serb town of Nis under Lt.-Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic. The VJ in total had approximately 85,000-114,000 personnel with a reserve force of possibly 200,000. In Kosovo, there were approximately 15,000-16,000 VJ troops in early 1999 and up to 20,000 by the end of April. There were in addition nearly 30,000 police and irregulars (volunteers and paramilitaries). The VJ is divided into "regulars" and "reservists". While the VJ has a mobile capability and is designed for the overall defence of Yugoslavia, reserve units are responsible only for their area. In respect of Kosovo, reserve units were sent from towns near to the border to supplement those already in Kosovo. Regular units could be "topped up" with reservists,including in particular specialists (e.g. air defence trained forces, combat engineers, technical experts employed in civilian work with transferable skills such as in radar and communications), although the proportion of regular to reservist was not to fall below approximately 60 per cent. http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch3.htm (1 of 16)12/5/2003 11:48:47 AM