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Saturday, November 25 12:07 AM SGT

'Bastards' threaten Kosovo peace: Kouchner

ZAGREB, Nov 24 (AFP) -

Kosovo's UN administrator Bernard Kouchner denounced Friday "bastards" who are
threatening to
undermine a fragile peace between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the province.

Speaking to reporters at an EU-Balkan summit, Kouchner said he was deeply
concerned by a fresh
wave of violence that could bring "black clouds" back over Kosovo.

"Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo are finally starting to live together," he said.
"If some bastards are
planting bombs and killing people, then this fledgling detente will disappear."

On Thursday the right-hand man to Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, Xhemaji
Mustafa,
was shot dead outside of his apartment, one day after a bomb attack on the home
of Belgrade's top
representative in Pristina in which a member of his staff was killed.

NATO troops Thursday closed a Kosovo-Serbia border crossing after two days of
clashes
between Serbian police and ethnic Albanian guerrillas in which three policemen
were missing and
presumed killed.

In an address to the EU and Balkan leaders, Kouchner said that extending
Serbia's December 23
elections to Kosovo risks endangering the "already fragile peace process" in the
province.

"I sincerely hope that the Serbian parliamentary elections in December will
further strengthen the
democratic forces in Serbia. I fully understand its political importance," he
said.

"But I fear that extending them in the territory of Kosovo may seriously
endanger the already fragile
peace process there. We may again slide back into conflict," he said.

He added: "We do not need any more victims to understand that the conflict in
Kosovo is not over
... There is a wall of blood between Serbs and Albanians" that will take perhaps
a generation to
overcome.

"Give time a chance," he said.

Co-hosted by Croatia and the French EU presidency, Friday's summit was to hail a
new era of
regional cooperation and open the door to closer relations between the European
Union and the
region.