NATO sees Kosovo security force by end 2009

By Mark John

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO is looking to have trained and launched a 2,500-strong Kosovo security force by the end of next year, an alliance spokesman said on Wednesday.

The force will be lightly armed and initially take on tasks such as crisis response, civil protection and ordnance disposal.

"The first phase of the standing-up of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) should be completed towards the end of 2009. Then we'll see a few years later when it becomes fully operational," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told a news briefing.

"It is envisioned to be multi-ethnic. There will be slots for all communities," he added of a locally recruited force due to cover overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian Kosovo including its Serb enclaves.

NATO allies agreed earlier this month to take on the training of the new force as part of moves to reshape the international security presence in Kosovo since its Western-backed secession from Serbia in February.

The step is sensitive in the alliance because some allies such as Spain have not recognised Kosovo's independence and so are wary of anything that gives it the accessories of statehood. Madrid says its personnel will not take part in KSF training.

The NATO spokesman stressed the KSF was not an army, nor was it expected to take on military tasks. Police-type duties such as riot control could be included in its remit, he added.

The KSF will replace the existing Kosovo Protection Corps, a 3,500-strong civil protection force backed up by some 2,000 reservists. NATO will also help in dissolving that body.

(Reporting by Mark John; Editing by Giles Elgood)