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PRISTINA,Kosovo-The United Nations accused Serbian officials Tuesday of complicity in the violence in northern Kosovo that left a U.N. policeman from Ukraine dead and dozens of people hurt.Larry Rossin, the deputy U.N. administrator for Kosovo, told reporters in Pristina that "it is clear to us that the violence ... was orchestrated."At the very least, Rossin said, Serbia's government failed to use its influence to prevent ethnic Serbs in Kosovo from launching the attacks, which left more than 60 U.N. and NATO forces and 70 Kosovo Serb protesters wounded.The U.N. pulled out of the Serb-dominated part of Kosovska Mitrovica because of Monday's violence. Additional U.S. troops trained in riot control were sent to reinforce NATO peacekeepers stationed in Kosovo's north, a NATO official said.Serbia's "interventions or lack of interventions with those who are causing these problems" are hindering U.N. operations in the Serb-dominated region of Kosovo, Rossin said."We've never had what we could consider a clear and unambiguous denunciation of this kind of violence from the ministers or indeed any other Belgrade government official that I can think of," he said.Rossin called "objectionable" some of the statements made by Serbia's government minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, when Samardzic was in Kosovska Mitrovica on Monday.Samardzic told protesters that "we will protect you just like we protect the Serbs in Serbia" and "we will reach the goal only if we are patient, smart and organized and if we believe in what we want to accomplish."A senior Serbian government official dealing with Kosovo, Dusan Prorokovic, refused to comment on the accusations against Samardzic."All we have been doing is trying to calm the situation," Prorokovic said.Serbian President Boris Tadic said Tuesday that his country will never agree to Kosovo's independence, and renewed talks under the authority of the United Nations are the only way to reach a compromise.Serbia recalled its ambassador to Japan Tuesday after Tokyo recognized Kosovo's independence. On Tuesday, Canada became the latest nation to recognize Kosovo as an independent state.Serb demonstrators traded gunfire with international peacekeepers Monday and attacked them with rocks, hand grenades and Molotov cocktails as police removed protesters from inside a U.N. courthouse.The policeman from Ukraine who died in the clashes was identified as 25-year old Ihor Kynal. He died of injuries suffered from a hand grenade thrown by a protester."He basically bled to death," said Larry Wilson, the top U.N. police official in Kosovo. "Because of the gunfire it took us almost two and a half hours to evacuate him."A Serb demonstrator who was shot in the head was in a coma. The U.N. in Kosovo said Tuesday that 41 more injured policemen were still being treated.The top NATO commander in Kosovo said Tuesday the peacekeepers used "appropriate force" and warned that the 16,000 strong force showed it would not give in to violence."Don't put us in a position to show it again," Lt. Gen. Xavier Bout de Marnhac said.Predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo has been under U.N. control since 1999, when NATO launched an air war to stop Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.Serbia, which considers the territory its historic and religious heartland, says Kosovo's declaration of independence was illegal under international law."We will fight until we die.This is Serbia and we will not let it go," said Milanka Sridic, a Serb resident of Kosovska Mitrovica."Kosovo is Serbia forever.They cannot do anything to us."On the other side of the divided city, ethnic Albanian residents accused the Serbs of seeking to destabilize Kosovo and the entire Balkans."They are trying to start another war," said Avni Kastrati, an ethnic Albanian."It is not Kosovo they want, they want trouble in the region, like always."By Nebi Qena
As in the days of Noah....
