Over the past two decades, the Kosovar government has spent over $2 billion on payment to former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) paramilitary organization. Kosovo received the money from the United States and the European Union and since 2009 mostly from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Kosovo Liberation Army was formed during the mid-1990s by Kosovo Albanians seeking independence from Serbia and the creation of a monoethnic state. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008.
A Daesh training camp in northern Iraq
Militant website via AP
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There have been numerous reports of abuses and war crimes committed by
KLA members during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war, including massacres of
civilians, prisons camps, allegations of organ theft etc. A special
court in The Hague has been established to investigate those crimes.
According to different estimates, currently at least 500 KLA veterans
are fighting in the ranks of Daesh in Syria.
"Compared to the entire population of Kosovo, this number is the
fifth-largest among other European countries. Many of the KLA veterans
fighting for Daesh receive payments from the Kosovar budget which
regularly funded by the US, the EU and the IMF," journalist Brankica
Ristic wrote for Sputnik Serbia.
Currently, there are 46,000 KLA veterans in Kosovo. A list was made up
to identify those who deserve pensions from the budget. The IMF unveiled
€106 million ($113 million) for the initiative.
The first payments were made in 2015. Some 12,000 former KLA members,
who fought against the Yugoslavian government and law enforcement
agencies in the 1990s, received €170 ($181) each.
A Kosovo Liberation Army honor guard stands at attention at the funeral
in southwestern Kosovo near Pec and Djakovica for five of 24 Kosovars
slain in an ambush in Rogovo last week by Serbian Interior Ministry
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However, since the time the number of officially registered veterans has
increased fourfold. Pristina had to ask the IMF to unveil more funds.
The Kosovar budget for 2017 is €2 billion ($2.1 billion), including
money to transform the Kosovo security forces into full-fledged armed
forces, which will be funded by the IMF.
However, the IMF does not want to give money for pensions for 46,000 KLA
veterans. The fund asked Pristina to clarify the number of veterans.
The government hopes that if the IMF rejected to give the money the US
could do. But the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential
election has put this into question.
"After the 1999 war Kosovo received $3.8 billion of international aid.
According to different sources, between 2000 and 2010 the region
received up to $40 billion. Part of this money could have been paid to
those fighting now in the ranks of Daesh," the journalist wrote.
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