FRENCH KFOR TROOPS STAND ON A BRIDGE IN MITROVICA, 2000-01-01 (photo)

French KFOR soldiers stand guard on the bridge separating ethnic Albanian and Serb part of town of Mitrovica on New Year's Eve december 31. Bernard Kouchner, the head of Kosovo's United Nations administration, attended a brief ceremony in ethnically divided Mitrovica, intended to spread new hope and show ethnic Albanians and Serbs were working together to reunite the northern city. "I wish you not to forget the past, but to forgive and start forgiving," Kouchner said in a speech on the bridge that divides the two communities as snowflakes drifted around him. Serb and ethnic Albanian leaders also attended the ceremony, punctuated by the sound of firecrackers from both ends of the bridge, which was heavily guarded by a dozens of French troops. IM/