(15 Feb 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of bridge dividing Serbian and Albanian sides of Mitrovica
2. Wide of bridge and sign
3. Sign reading: (English) Mitrovica Bridge
4. Wide of security officials
5. Security officials by UN vehicle
6. Wide of Mitrovica
7. UN convoy with French flag moving through the streets of Mitrovica
8. Various of Serbian flags
9. Set up shot of Halimi Beciri, an Albanian living in Serb-held Northern Mitrovica
10. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Halimi Beciri, Albanian living in Serb-held Northern Mitrovica:
''I think that all is going to be well, that is is going to be well for all of us. And as I would like to go back to my flat, I am sure that the other people would like to go back to their houses and their apartments."
11. Security official flagging down car
12. Wide of street
13. Mid of roll of barbed wire in street
14. Various set up shots of Krstivoje Krstic, Serb living in Northern Mitrovica
15. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Krstivoje Krstic, Serb living in Northern Mitrovica:
"These pigeons are accustomed to tear gas. Here we have pigeons, and over there (on the Albanian side) they have crows and ravens. As we see, Europe wants more tear gas here!"
16. Wide of street and security officials
STORYLINE:
Mitrovica Bridge, which divides rival Kosovo Serbs and Albanians is being closely watched, just days before the province's potentially volatile declaration of independence from Serbia.
The Ibar River divides Mitrovica into two parts - the north side, overwhelmingly Serb, and the south side, almost entirely ethnic Albanian.
If any violence breaks out in Kosovo after its Albanian leadership declares independence - possibly on Sunday - the bridge is likely to be the main flashpoint.
Mitrovica residents expressed their feelings to an AP Television crew.
Halimi Beciri, an Albanian living in Serb-held Northern Mitrovica, was positive on Thursday towards the possible independence declaration and its aftermath on Mitrovica.
''I think that all is going to be well, that is is going to be well for all of us. And as I would like to go back to my flat, I am sure that the other people would like to go back to their houses and their apartments," Beciri said.
Meanwhile, Krstivoje Krstic, a Serb living in Northern Mitrovica, was sarcastic.
"These pigeons are accustomed to tear gas. Here we have pigeons, and over there (on the Albanian side) they have crows and ravens. As we see, Europe wants more tear gas here!" Krstic said.
Almost 10 years after the UN took control of the province, the second-largest town in Kosovo remains bitterly divided and violence-prone.
NATO-led peacekeepers have achieved little more than to enforce the effective division of the city of some 100-thousand people by separating
the hostile sides.
Traffic was slow on Thursday on the bridge where the troops had prepared coils of razor wire for use in case of trouble.
Associated Press journalists reported that young men clad in black track suits and with closely cropped hair were keeping a close watch over the bridge.
With bulging waistlines apparently concealing their weapons, the men - known locally as the "new faces" because they are newcomers in this drab mining town - are plainclothes policemen sent from Belgrade, local security officials said.
Their presence highlights Serbia's determination to defend an enclave comprising about 15 percent of Kosovo's territory that has remained under Serbia's direct control since NATO's bombing campaign chased its troops out of the province in 1999.
Kosovo, home to 2 (m) million people, is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.

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