Hatred Persists in Kosovo

                     By TOM COHEN Associated Press Writer

                     ZITINJE, Yugoslavia (AP) - Surrounded by the charred hulks of other
                     homes deserted by Serbs, flames and smoke poured from a house
                     Monday in the Kosovo village of Zitinje.

                     The burning of every Serb remnant in the village except for a small
                     church - along with a third day of scuffling between French soldiers and
                     ethnic Albanians trying to march to the Serb part of the town of
Kosovska Mitrovica - showed the hatred that persists in Kosovo eight weeks after the end of
NATO's bombing campaign.

Most of the province's estimated 200,000 Serbs have fled since the war ended. The 250 Serbian
residents of Zitinje, 25 miles southeast of Pristina, left last week, and U.S. troops moved in to
protect their belongings and houses from revenge-minded ethnic Albanians.

But when NATO forces decreased their presence on Friday, ethnic Albanians struck quickly. By
Monday, every house with a Serbian Orthodox cross painted on it was destroyed.

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic withdrew army and police forces from Kosovo in June in
exchange for the end of NATO airstrikes. Since then, minority Serbs have increasingly become the
targets of hate crimes committed by ethnic Albanians, seeking revenge for atrocities committed by
Serbian forces before and during the bombing.

U.S. Lt. Col. Tim Reese said his troops tried to prevent the revenge arson in Zitinje by collecting
furniture, valuables and even stray farm animals for safekeeping in a building in the middle of the
village.

Then U.S. troops allowed ethnic Albanians to claim property that had been stolen during the war if
they had documentation or could identify it.

``We thought that would kind of lower the temptation to loot,'' Reese said.

Yet ethnic Albanians were ready with gasoline and matches Friday, and by Sunday, more than 40
houses were burned, along with the Serb possessions stored by the soldiers. The rest burned
Monday.

Bujar Zeqire, 22, said he came over from the nearby ethnic Albanian village of Ballanc to see ``that
the houses are burned properly.''

``In my case, they killed my uncle, so how can I like them?'' he said.

In Kosovska Mitrovica, French peacekeepers set up barbed wire across a central bridge
connecting the Serbian and ethnic Albanian sides of town after a third straight day of scuffling with
ethnic Albanians trying to cross in large numbers.

About 500 youths stormed the bridge but were held off by 40 French troops. The confrontation
was a repeat of Saturday's and Sunday's attempts by ethnic Albanians to cross the bridge.

Tafil Jusufi, one of those involved in Monday's protest, accused the French peacekeepers of
``creating a new border'' to keep ethnic Albanians out of the Serb-dominated part of Kosovska
Mitrovica, 20 miles north of Pristina.

A senior U.N. official, Mary-Pat Silveira, said serious violence was likely if a large ethnic Albanian
crowd crossed the bridge because Serbs gathered on the other side were probably armed.

Kosovska Mitrovica, a mining center valued by both Serbs and ethnic Albanians, is divided by the
river into predominantly Serb and ethnic Albanian communities. Since the end of the war, the
central bridge has become a symbol of confrontation, with Serbs preventing ethnic Albanians from
returning to live north of the river.

French Lt. Col. Philippe Tanguy said putting up the barbed wire was the ``only solution'' to
keeping the situation under control.

``It is our aim to allow the Albanians to cross, but a massive confrontation is not the solution right
now, when there is a lot of tension,'' Tanguy said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said peacekeepers believe ``at
present there would be a serious risk of large-scale violence if the Albanians were allowed to cross
the bridge.''

The protests are believed to be organized by the Kosovo Liberation Army, although Hashim
Thaci, the head of the KLA's self-proclaimed interim government, denied the group was behind
them.

Lt. Gen. Mike Jackson, the commander of the international peacekeeping force KFOR, told
Monday's edition of The Scotsman newspaper that the KLA's leadership might lack control of its
forces.

In response to Jackson's comments, Thaci said: ``There might be some people who are armed
who aren't under KLA control, which we have warned since the beginning, but there might be
some people in KFOR who aren't under Gen. Jackson's control.''