NATO Official Warns Kosovo as Violence Flares

Amid a rash of violence, the new commander of NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo warned Monday that Western governments will withhold support if attacks on minority groups in the province persist.

Spanish Lt. Gen. Juan Ortuno, who took over from German Gen. Klaus Reinhardt in April, said at his first news conference that his term will be marked by efforts to foster harmony in the Serbian province, which is struggling to overcome a war and a decade of oppression under the government of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Ortuno said he will fight for more funding for the perennially cash-strapped U.N. mission, but he warned that Western efforts must be met in equal measure by efforts from Kosovars to take individual responsibility for promoting tolerance.

Ortuno spoke amid reports of new violence--much, if not all, apparently ethnically motivated.

Four Kosovo Serbs were shot and wounded by ethnic Albanians on Sunday, and a former regional commander of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army was shot and killed Monday in the southwestern city of Prizren, peacekeepers and U.N. police reported.

Ekrem Rexha, better known by his nickname, Drini, was the former KLA commander for southern Kosovo. He was killed outside his home. U.N. police said he had been serving in the local government.