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PRISTINA, Sept 22 (AFP) - The international community has given itself the onerous task of creating a new civil force, the "Kosovo Protection Corps" from the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA); a tough job with some tough opponents.
The first job was to get the KLA to sign a demilitarisation deal, a feat described as "a great semi-success" by the UN administrator for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, who said the signing Monday was just the start and that there were differing interpretations of the accord.
Kouchner stressed that a transition period of at least 60 days would be necessary to get the new Corps fully operational.
Under the agreement, the new body will be tasked with protecting Kosovo and dealing with civil emergencies and humanitarian problems, but will only be lightly armed.
KLA members will make up a substantial number of the new members of the Corps which will "give a new direction to their aspirations," Kouchner said.
"We have signed an historic document," NATO's supreme commander in Europe, US General Wesley Clark said on Monday in a more upbeat mood after the signing of the deal.
British Lieutenant General Mike Jackson, commander of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo said the success of the demilitarisation process "marks the end of one era and the beginning of another".
Kosovo's security nonetheless remains the sole responsibility of KFOR, he added.
Belgrade, which considered the KLA a terrorist organisation, on Tuesday accused the United Nations of "seeking to legalise the terrorists," in a statement published by the Yugoslav justice ministry.
"The Yugoslav ministry of Justice considers that the conclusion of this agreement has no foundation... and constitutes a violation," of UN Security Council resolutions, the Tanjug news agency in Belgrade reported.
The United Nations "is seeking through its mission in Kosovo to legalise the activities of of the KLA terrorist and criminal gangs in the form of a civil force for the protection of Kosovo".
The ministry said that the transformation of the KLA would have "unforeseeable consequences for peace and security in Kosovo," and would be followed by an exodus of Serbs from Ksovo and of "violations of Yugoslavia's sovereignty".
Belgrade, the statement added, would use all means to oppose the move.
The new corps is nonetheless being presented as a "multi-ethnic" forces, with 10 percent of its members to be drawn from Kosovo's ethnic minorities, including the Serbs.
KFOR estimates that 10 percent of the rebel forces also oppose the demilitarisation deal, and could do so actively.
The coming days will show to what extent the former KLA fighters accept the new phase in the transformation from a guerrilla outfit to a civil corps, according to KFOR and UN officials.
Despite the misgivings of some former KLA leaders, the group's leader Hashim Thaci said the new force would help foster democracy in the province.
"This structure has an outlook," Thaci said. "It will be open and very important for the future of democracy in Kosovo."
He said the new force would comprise 5,000 men with a "real organisation". Another 2,000 reservists will be enlisted.
One UN official said that the KLA, which is seeking independence from the rest of Serbia and Yugoslavia as a whole, had given up more than 100,000 weapons.
The force will possess some 750 weapons, including 200 Kalashnikov machine guns, Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR) and Kosovar Albanian sources said Tuesday.
This number of weapons is three times higher than the number stated in NATO's original plan.
In addition to the 750 weapons to which the former guerrillas will have permanent access, another 1,800 arms under KFOR control will be available to them for training purposes, sources said.
The conditions under which the new corps is allowed to use force are strict, while recognising that each member of the force is entitled to act in self-defence.