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Belgrade proposes to UN segregating ethnic Serbs in Kosovo

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Belgrade has presented the UN with a proposal for the segregation of Kosovo into ethnic Serb and Albanian enclaves, national media said on Monday.
BELGRADE, March 24 (RIA Novosti) - Belgrade has presented the UN with a proposal for the segregation of Kosovo into ethnic Serb and Albanian enclaves, national media said on Monday.

Serb-dominated areas account for about 15% of Kosovo's predominately ethnic-Albanian territory. Belgrade is proposing that it take over full control for the ethnic-Serb regions from UN peacekeepers.

The draft document proposes that ethnic-Serbs take over the police, customs and judiciary in Serb-dominated regions currently under the command of the Kosovo police service. The Serb force would be subordinate directly to the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

Serbia is also proposing a ban on setting up trade barriers between Kosovo and other parts of Serbia, which would prevent the development of free trade.

"If any other third party establishes trade barriers then Kosovo Serbs will have the right to introduce their own customs requirements," the Vecherniye Novosti newspaper said, citing the draft document.

The newspaper said that the draft document has been compiled by the Serbian government and handed to the UN mission in Kosovo by Serbia's Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic on March 16.

Tensions have escalated in Serb regions of the largely ethnic Albanian province since Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia on February 17, which the U.S. and the vast majority of EU states have since acknowledged.

Rioters clashed with peacekeepers last week in the city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, leaving one Ukrainian police officer dead and dozens of civilians and peacekeepers wounded.

Serbia today marked the ninth anniversary of the start of NATO's 78-day bombing campaign which forced former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw troops from Kosovo.

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