Serb boy killed in Kosovo

A Serb teenager was shot dead in Kosovo yesterday and police quickly arrested two Albanians suspected of trying to ignite another round of ethnic violence in the United Nations-run province. UN police spokesman Malcolm Ashby said 16-year-old Dimitrije Popovic died when gunmen fired from a car into a group of young Serbs at a hamburger kiosk at 2 a.m. Police in Pristina later stopped a suspect car and seized two Albanians with guns.

"The criminals must be brought to justice and as soon as possible the motives for this criminal act must be found," Kosovo Albanian Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi said. "I call on all citizens of Kosovo to remain calm."

Kosovo Albanian President Ibrahim Rugova said "such acts are directed against civil peace in Kosovo, against our country's future and independence".

It was not clear how the suspected gunmen managed to drive in and out of Gracanica. The NATO-led peacekeeping mission KFOR re-established checkpoints on the outskirts of the town after the March riots, saying their removal was a mistake.

KFOR spokesman Colonel Jim Moran said some checkpoints "may have been relaxed". By afternoon, Gracanica was calm and under control but the roads in and out were sealed off until tomorrow.

Oliver Ivanovic, a Serb member of Kosovo's parliament, blamed the UN and NATO for not stopping militants. "There is no living together here... We must seal off all roads through Serb districts," he said.

The head of Serbia's Kosovo Co-ordination Centre, Nebojsa Covic, said the murder was "a message to the EU foreign policy chief (Javier) Solana who is arriving in Pristina tomorrow, (and) a farewell message to...Harri Holkeri".

Holkeri, Kosovo's fourth UN governor since 1999, quit two weeks ago under pressure. He returned to Kosovo yesterday ahead of a final meeting with Solana, as international efforts to resolve Kosovo's demand for independence by 2005 intensify.

Speaking on arrival Pristina airport, Holkeri said he did not want to see a repeat of the March violence and believed most decent Kosovo people did not want that either.

It was a similar shooting in another Serb enclave, quickly followed by the drowning of three Albanian boys in a river, that ignited mob violence in March. Albanian media were condemned for blaming Serbs for the drowning and fomenting 'revenge' attacks.

Serbs were targeted for revenge after Kosovo came under UN control in 1999 following NATO's 11-week bombing war to halt Serb repression of the independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

Belgrade has complained bitterly that those Serbs who chose to stay as 200,000 fled north are not adequately protected but its plan to create autonomous Serb enclaves is rejected by the Western powers that ordered intervention as a form of partition.