usmc4669
03-18-04, 02:46 PM
By DANICA KIRKA
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Ethnic Albanians torched Serb homes and churches Thursday as Kosovo convulsed in a second day of violence, its worst since the province's war ended in 1999.
Serbian nationalists set mosques elsewhere on fire and threatened to retaliate with "slaughter and death," and NATO sent reinforcements to quell tensions in the U.N.-run province and ease the threat of renewed conflict in the volatile Balkans.
The clashes, which began Wednesday when ethnic Albanians blamed Serbs for the drownings of two children, have killed at least 31 people and wounded hundreds more, including several dozen U.N. police and NATO peacekeepers, according to U.N. spokeswoman Izabella Karlowicz.
The bloodshed underscored the bitter divisions that have polarized Kosovo's mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians, who want independence from Serbia, and Orthodox Christian Serbs, a minority in Kosovo who consider the province their ancient homeland.
The violence, which spilled beyond Kosovo's borders into the Serbian heartland, also dealt the Bush administration a potential setback in efforts to draw down on peacekeepers in the Balkans and redeploy them to Iraq, Afghanistan and other hotspots. About 2,000 Americans now serve with the force, down from 5,000 after the war, and the entire force has shrunk from 50,000 to 18,500.
"The international community's drive to reduce (NATO) forces and the U.N. police for cost reasons and because of Iraq has turned out to be an error," warned Winfried Nachtwei, a German lawmaker who visited Kosovo this week.
The White House called for an end to violence in Kosovo and said President Bush met with his national security team to monitor the situation. The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade closed temporarily to the public as a precaution
When United Nations and NATO ask us for help we went. When we ask NATO for help they refuse to help. Do you think that it is time to pull a Spain and bring out troops back out of Kosovo, also if we turn Iraq over to the UN do you think the same thing could happen there?
Injured people are led away as U.N. peacekeepers step in to separate clashing ethnic Albanians and Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo, where several were injured and others were reported killed, on Wednesday, March 17, 2004. (AP Photo/str)
.
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Ethnic Albanians torched Serb homes and churches Thursday as Kosovo convulsed in a second day of violence, its worst since the province's war ended in 1999.
Serbian nationalists set mosques elsewhere on fire and threatened to retaliate with "slaughter and death," and NATO sent reinforcements to quell tensions in the U.N.-run province and ease the threat of renewed conflict in the volatile Balkans.
The clashes, which began Wednesday when ethnic Albanians blamed Serbs for the drownings of two children, have killed at least 31 people and wounded hundreds more, including several dozen U.N. police and NATO peacekeepers, according to U.N. spokeswoman Izabella Karlowicz.
The bloodshed underscored the bitter divisions that have polarized Kosovo's mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians, who want independence from Serbia, and Orthodox Christian Serbs, a minority in Kosovo who consider the province their ancient homeland.
The violence, which spilled beyond Kosovo's borders into the Serbian heartland, also dealt the Bush administration a potential setback in efforts to draw down on peacekeepers in the Balkans and redeploy them to Iraq, Afghanistan and other hotspots. About 2,000 Americans now serve with the force, down from 5,000 after the war, and the entire force has shrunk from 50,000 to 18,500.
"The international community's drive to reduce (NATO) forces and the U.N. police for cost reasons and because of Iraq has turned out to be an error," warned Winfried Nachtwei, a German lawmaker who visited Kosovo this week.
The White House called for an end to violence in Kosovo and said President Bush met with his national security team to monitor the situation. The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade closed temporarily to the public as a precaution
When United Nations and NATO ask us for help we went. When we ask NATO for help they refuse to help. Do you think that it is time to pull a Spain and bring out troops back out of Kosovo, also if we turn Iraq over to the UN do you think the same thing could happen there?
Injured people are led away as U.N. peacekeepers step in to separate clashing ethnic Albanians and Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo, where several were injured and others were reported killed, on Wednesday, March 17, 2004. (AP Photo/str)
.