UN condemns anti-Serb violence

The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has condemned anti-Serb violence in Kosovo.

Mr Annan said Serbs and other minorities continue to be murdered, attacked and threatened, and a recent upsurge in violence had undermined the Serbs' confidence in the future.

He said the international community did not intervene in the province to make it a haven for revenge and crime.

Mr Annan's comments are part of a report on the UN mission which the Security Council is to debate later today -- a year after the NATO-led force went into Kosovo.

The UN special representative in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, is due to address the Council on latest developments. Following talks with the United States special envoy to the Balkans, James O'Brien, two leading Kosovo Albanians, Hashim Thaqi and Ibrahim Rugova, called for an immediate end to attacks on Serbs in Kosovo.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service