Kosovan Serbs block reopening of bridge by UN forces

SERBIA & MONTENEGRO: Serbs fearing attack from their ethnic-Albanian neighbours blocked a key bridge in Kosovo yesterday as the UN reopened it to traffic to help convince a visiting envoy that the region was on the path to lasting peace.

Hundreds of Serbs massed on the north side of the bridge in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, and prevented cars from the mostly Albanian southern side from crossing the River Ibar.

Serbs consider northern Mitrovica to be their last urban stronghold in Kosovo, after about 200,000 of their compatriots fled the region when Albanians sought revenge for the death of thousands of civilians at the hands of Serb security forces in 1999, when Belgrade was fighting ethnic Albanian insurgents.

NATO bombing ended that conflict and Kosovo was placed under UN administration, but violence still occurs: 19 people died and thousands were displaced during vicious riots in March 2004, and Serbs and Albanians exchanged gunfire in Mitrovica.

"Our wounds are too fresh. This is too early," said one Serb man who helped temporarily block the bridge, which Serbs fear will expose them to attack by Albanians who want to reclaim apartments lost in the war.

Officials from the UN insisted that they would continue the gradual reopening of the bridge to traffic, as Kosovo prepares for potentially heated talks on its final status.

The province's Albanian leaders demand full sovereignty, while Belgrade insists it will only countenance something "more than autonomy but less than independence".

Norwegian diplomat Karl Eide arrived in Kosovo yesterday to begin a wide-ranging review of how it is implementing UN guidelines on everything from boosting the economy to protecting minorities and fostering democratic institutions.

Mr Eide's report will dictate the timing of the talks on Kosovo's final status. The United States and the EU, which Serbia ultimately hopes to join, are urging Belgrade to be flexible over Kosovo and to catch its most wanted war criminals.

The country's media is rife with reports that Gen Ratko Mladic - who is accused of atrocities while leading Serb forces during Bosnia's 1990-95 war - is about to be handed over to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The Danas newspaper claimed yesterday that its chief editor had received a death threat from a man claiming to be Gen Mladic's bodyguard, after it reported that he was negotiating his surrender.

"As of today, he is a dead man," the newspaper quoted the caller as saying. "We shall kill him, chop off his head, arms and legs because of what he reported the other day about Gen Mladic."