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| Kosovo Security Forces provide relief during severe floods. |
General Erhard Bühler, Commander KFOR, together with Mr. Fehmi Mujota, Minister for the Kosovo Security Force (KSF), and Lt.-General Sylejman Selimi, Commander of the KSF, met to discuss the recent operations and activities of the KSF.
They assessed the humanitarian operations of the KSF during the flooding in Albania. Since last week, specialized Search and Rescue and Medical units are deployed in the Shkoder region in Northern Albania to assist the suffering people to overcome the disastrous situation. The KSF deployment, now consisting of 95 members, has managed to rescue hundreds of people who were trapped by flood water.
General Bühler praised the significant progress the KSF has made so far: "KSF is a very ambitious and professional force which accomplishes the tasks set out for it. I congratulate the KSF especially on the efficient performance and the quick response to Albania. There you have provided a well conducted operation to help many endangered people. This international mission in the Shkoder has shown that you can deal with real emergency situations.”
Bühler, Mujota and Selimi also discussed the planning and the performance of the Field Training Exercise "Agile Lion 3”, based on the exercise assessment report developed jointly by KFOR and MKSF.
The Kosovo Security Force conducted their first inter-governmental Field Training Exercise on the 10th and 11th of November 2010. The primary objective was to increase and verify integration of the joint operational and inter-institutional actions at the strategic, operational and tactical levels. The Ministry for the KSF commanded and controlled KSF units and coordinated KSF operations with the Ministry of the Internal Affairs and the Kosovo Police as well as with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Administration, the Secretariat of the National Security Council of Kosovo, the Situation Centre of the Government, the Kosovo Red Cross and the ANP (Action for Non-violence and Peace building).
More than 800 personnel took part, as well as 126 different vehicles and heavy equipment.
All KSF units and the personnel of the other exercise-involved institutions responded to a number of near-simultaneous, major staged incidents throughout Kosovo. They included a flood after an earthquake at the Batlava Lake, an aircraft crash near the village of Magure and a fire burst in the industrial wood enterprise "Radusha” in Istog.
In general the KSF demonstrated a high degree of competency in executing core capabilities, in the fields of Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) clean-up and Search and Rescue (SAR). The close cooperation and teamwork with other institutions in Kosovo confirmed the KSF's commitment to establish itself as a professional security force.
KFOR and the Ministry for the KSF agreed to work further to improve some areas of the operational planning and the decision-making process. Additionally, the KSF's cooperation with the other relevant institutions will be developed. KFOR mentors will work in close coordination with their KSF counterparts to ensure further progress is made in future exercises.