KOSOVO: MITROVICA: GRENADE ATTACK WRAP

(15 Jul 2000) English/Nat
XFA
A rifle grenade was fired from the ethnic Albanian part of the divided city of Mitrovica into the Serb section of town, triggering about two hours of unrest, NATO said on Saturday.

No one was reported injured in the blast.

But rumours spread through the Serb community that the grenade, fired about 11 pm (2100 GMT) on Friday, had hit a cafe frequented by Serbs who monitor traffic across a bridge over the Ibar River, which divides the city into Albanian and Serb districts.

Believing the cafe had been hit, a crowd of angry Serbs rushed to the area.

French Brigadier General Jean-Louis Sublet also hurried to the scene and spoke with Serb community leader Oliver Ivanovic, convincing him the cafe had not been hit.

By midnight the crowd dispersed but a few minutes later, another grenade was fired toward a complex of three apartment buildings on the north side of the river, exploding in an empty apartment, NATO said.

That brought crowds back into the streets on the Serb side of the river.

They finally went home about 1 a.m.

Mitrovica is the most tense city in the province because of the presence of large numbers of Serbs and ethnic Albanians and Friday night the tension was about to explode into tragedy.

On Saturday the UN issued an emergency appeal to calm the tensions fearing that the atmosphere is ripe for further unrest.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It is absolutely critical that all of the people of this region work together in the furtherance of those common goals rather than pursuing activities which will divide the community here."
SUPERCAPTION: Carolyn McCol, OSCE spokeswoman

In a determined effort, UN authorities persuaded Serb and Albanian leaders to agree a joint declaration condemning the violence of the last two nights.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We've ended with them issuing a joint communique in which both community leaders and Mr. Gnash appealed for calm and the community leaders asked the Albanians and the Serbs to pleas halt all the violence, work together toward a peaceful and prosperous Mitrovica"
SUPERCAPTION: Micheal Keats,UN spokesman at Mitrovica

But the tension is not over.

The leader of the Serb community said his people have been "sacrificed" again.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We discussed today with Mr. Gnash and together strongly condemn this violence. This is against both communities and one time again, the Serb community was sacrificed."
SUPERCAPTION: Oliver Ivanovic, Leader of Mitrovica Serbs

French K-FOR troops have enforced an informal division of the city.

But without those troops, it's hard to envisage the two communities living together peacefully.

The ethnic Albanians have denounced the division of the city as a violation of the June 1999 peace agreement which provided for a multi-ethnic Kosovo in which people could return to their former homes.

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