Pristina - The mission sent by the European Union to Kosovo to replace a UN administration and help Pristina impose law and order becomes operational Tuesday - amid much uncertainty and some hostility.

Mostly ethnic Albanian Kosovo declared independence from Serbia last February 17, eight years after UN took over instead of the Belgrade authorities, which were ousted by NATO.

Now the EU mission, the Eulex, is to start taking over from the UN in policing, customs and justice, though it remains unclear how some 2,000 officials are to function within a complex and still unrefined mandate.

The mission is at least formally welcomed in the largest part of ethnically divided Kosovo, where Albanians make up the majority.

But there are many among the 2 million Albanians who oppose it, seeing it as an obstacle to the territory's full sovereignty. Protests have already been held against Eulex.

Leading the opposition to Eulex, activist Albin Kurti described Eulex as "a bad investment."

The Eulex faces more hostility in the northernmost section of Kosovo, along the boundary with Serbia proper, where Serbs make up a clear majority.

Belgrade and the Serbs, in Kosovo and Serbia, vehemently oppose - and are fighting - Kosovo's secession from Belgrade.

To appease Belgrade into backing the Eulex, Brussels agreed to say it was "status neutral" and to split command with the UN in in northern Kosovo and other Serb enclaves scattered around Kosovo, and heed to the local ethnic makeup.

That enraged Kosovo Albanian leaders, who nevertheless said the mission was welcome, and continue insisting that it must operate under the same rules in the entire Kosovo.

While Kosovo Serbs pointed out that they are unhappy with Eulex regardless of concessions won by Belgrade, so far there was no threat of violence. In Serb riots against independence 10 months ago, a Ukrainian policeman was killed.

A Kosovo Serb leader, Nebojsa Jovic, said Monday there was "no hurry" with the Eulex. After Serbia agreed to its deployment, "we may in some way accept it."

"But ... it will take time for the Serbian people to become convinced that Eulex arrives in good faith and as truly status neutral," he told Belgrade radio B92.

The Eulex begins Tuesday by taking over throughout Kosovo, including the 100 officials working in the Serbian north. That part of the mission would later restore control over two checkpoints the Serbs burned following Kosovo's secession in February.

The NATO-led peacekeeping mission, which arrived in Kosovo after the alliance drove Belgrade's security forces out to end ethnic bloodshed, remains unchanged, its french commander, General Michel Yakovleff said. (dpa)