The ethnic Albanian leader in the Serbian province of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, has made a rare visit to front-line villages in the troubled region.

He was travelling in an armoured car with the American mediator on Kosovo, Christopher Hill, to see progress in the return of hundreds of thousands of local people who fled fighting between Yugoslav forces and separatists.

Both men said they'd seen that people were coming back, but more needed to be done to provide security.

Mr Hill said there'd been a shocking amount of damage to houses, and a lasting settlement was needed to avoid any repetition.

The two men also discussed details of a draft agreement to restore self-government to Kosovo.