(23 Feb 2000) English/Nat

VOICED BY: VERA FRANKL

NATO is holding a special meeting this Friday on Mitrovica as concerns are mounting about the growing tensions between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.

American and French K-FOR troops carried out more searches on the northern Serb-dominated side of the town on Wednesday.

In addition to finding weapons, the purpose of the search was also to demonstrate to the Serbs that the NATO-led Kosovo Force is the main power in Kosovo.

The commander of the KFOR forces, General Klaus Reinhardt, visited the town and said searches would continue as long as necessary although he admitted that it was impossible to find all the illegal weapons in the city.

To help ease some of the tension, French troops are building an alternative bridge across the river that divides the city.

VOICE-OVER:

00:02
In the ethnically-divided city of Mitrovica, the search for weapons continues.

00:07
By end of a painstaking three-hour search, the peacekeepers have uncovered a large cachet of weapons, including rifles, ammunition and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

00:18
So far there are no plans to scale down the operation.

00:22
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We know that there were weapons in the city and we've been searching now for quite a few days beforehand, in smaller entities and then we enlarged now for the last couple of days."
SUPERCAPTION: General Klaus Reinhardt, Commander of peacekeepers in Kosovo

00:36
Three days after they were driven away by stone-throwing Serbs, U-S paratroopers are venturing back into the Serb-controlled north.

00:44
They want to show that no part of Kosovo is off-limits.

00:47
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The purpose of today's operation was two-fold - the first was to confiscate weapons and ammunition in order to make Mitrovica, or northern Mitrovica, a safer place. The second purpose of the operation was to demonstrate K-FOR's ability to operate freely in north Mitrovica. I think both of those missions were accomplished today."
SUPER CAPTION: Lt Colonel Michael Ellerbe, US batallion commander

01:07
Not all peacekeepers are welcome. This Serb woman complained that K-FOR troops damaged her property while searching her garage.

01:15
But there's hope on the banks of the river, where French engineers are constructing a makeshift footbridge to allow Albanians on the south to cross safely to the Serb side.

01:26
Building other kinds of bridges within this divided community won't be so easy.

01:33
VISION ENDS

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