(31 Jan 2008)
1. Various of United Nations Police security ahead of arrival of President of Serbia Boris Tadic
2. Tadic getting out of car and receiving traditional welcome with bread and salt
3. Close up of sign for school
4. Tadic shaking hands with local Kosovo Serb villagers
5. Wide of Tadic standing with children
6. Close up of Tadic singing
7. Villagers watching
8. Pan from villagers to Tadic and children
9. Various of Tadic and children
10. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Boris Tadic, president of Serbia: (++please note that this is a rough translation++)
''I believe that Kosovo will never, ever become independent. I'm here to support Kosovo, I will help you and support you, but I will never let you go.''
11. Pan from traditional dancing to Tadic and children
12. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Kosovo Serb, Vox pop:
''This is very good that he has time to come and visit us and give us support. I only hope that he will care more about Kosovo Serbs and make sure that he will not let Kosovo slip from Serbia.''
13. Tadic taking his jacket off to play basketball with local children
14. Tadic playing basketball
15. Person taking photograph
16. Tadic hugging children after end of game
17. Tadic posing for photograph with children
STORYLINE:
The president of Serbia arrived in central Kosovo on Thursday morning on a surprise visit, promising local Kosovo Serbs that Kosovo will stay part of Serbia forever.
Boris Tadic told Kosovo Serbs in the village of Cernica, ''I will help you and support you, but I will never let you go.''
Tadic, the leader of the pro-Western Democratic Party, is hoping to win his second term in office in elections on Sunday.
Like his main nationalist challenger, Tomislav Nikolic, Tadic rejects independence for Kosovo, but refuses to sever ties with Western nations that might recognise it.
The election is considered crucial for Serbia, which will choose whether to press on with Western integration or return to the nationalist past of the Milosevic era, when the country faced international sanctions for fomenting the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
There are 6.7 million eligible voters in Serbia, 61 percent of whom voted in the first round on January 20, when Nikolic edged Tadic by about five percentage points, not enough to avoid the runoff.
The outcome of the vote will determine how Serbia will respond to Kosovo province's probable declaration of independence, which is expected in February, after the election.
Both Tadic and Nikolic have vowed not to accept a unilateral declaration. But Tadic, unlike his opponent, supports closer ties with the EU regardless of Kosovo's status.
Serbian analysts have warned that Western backing for Kosovo's independence has played into the hands of Nikolic before the election.
Hard-liners in Serbia have said the Balkan country should drop its bid to become an EU member if the union agrees to statehood for Kosovo, and should turn to Russia, which has opposed the province's independence.

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