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BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, Oct. 19 (UPI) The United Nations Civilian Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the KFOR peacekeeping force Tuesday rejected a plan formulated by Kosovo's ethnic Serbs to organize their own independent enclaves, known as cantons, and security force.
The two organizations said in a statement that an ethnic Serb security force would duplicate the efforts of the fledgling Kosovo Protection Corps, and was also unacceptable because membership was based on ethnic background.
KFOR and UNMIK said in a joint statement they fully understand the ethnic Serbs' security concerns, but they consider formation of an ethnic Serb security force to be unnecessary. The statement also said the planned Serbian Protection Corps would be set up on ethnic principles and was unacceptable, the statement said.
The statement also said the newly-formed Kosovo Protection Corps was founded as the result of the demilitarization and disbanding of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army and is the only organization entrusted with the job of civil defense in Kosovo.
There is no need for a duplication of efforts, the two bodies asserted.
The statement repeated the U.N. view that the idea of Kosovo's cantonization was contrary to the principles on which the U.N. mission in the province was based.
Meanwhile, the Beta news agency said the Serbian church and people's committee in Gnjilane reported Tuesday that six grenades had been thrown at ethnic Serb houses in the past two days.
Nobody was hurt in the unconfirmed attacks, which the committee said were aimed at pressuring the remaining ethnic Serbs in Gnjilane into selling their real estate and leaving.