(12 Mar 2008)
1. Wide shot pan of Gazivoda Lake and hills
2. Various of petrol station
3. NATO armoured cars drive past petrol station
4. Armoured cars pull into side of road
5. NATO armoured cars parked up
6. Various of French NATO soldiers resting beside parked armoured cars
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Colonel Eric Gallineau, KFOR:
"In fact the aim of this exercise is to train our units, especially our tactical CP, and to check also our capability to react very quickly."
8. Various of KFOR tanks and French soldiers in the village of Leposavic
STORYLINE:
NATO-led peacekeeping forces began a two day military exercise in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo on Wednesday.
The area of the exercise around Gazivoda lake is calm, said military authorities, but it remains tense.
NATO armoured cars could be seen rumbling along roads in the area, and French soldiers of the NATO-led KFOR (Kosovo Force) could be seen with their parked vehicles by the side of the road near the village of Leposavic.
On Friday, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer plans to travel to Kosovo, his first visit since the territory declared independence from Serbia.
De Hoop Scheffer will meet Kosovo's president and prime minister as well as commanders of NATO's 16,000
troops there, known as KFOR (Kosovo Force), says alliance spokesman James Appathurai.
The secretary general is also scheduled to meet leaders of Kosovo's Serb minority and will travel to the tense
northern part of the territory.
Heavily armed KFOR military personnel and equipment are based in northern Kosovo after the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence on February 17.
Two days after independence, angry Serbs set on fire two crossing points between Kosovo and Serbia.
One of them is in the area of Wednesday's military exercise.
Border protection in the north remains a serious challenge for Kosovo.
In northern parts, local Serbs strongly oppose any sign of Kosovo statehood, considering it illegal and false.
The United Nations in Kosovo says it is struggling to establish control over courts and customs in Kosovo's Serb dominated north.
Officials say they are trying to get the services working almost a month after independence, an act met by a wave of anger from minority Serbs.
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