Nato chief denies Kosovo unlawful killings

The Secretary-General of Nato, George Robertson, has reiterated the organisation's denial that it unlawfully killed civilians during the Kosovo conflict.

The human rights organisation Amnesty International last week accused Nato of unlawful killings, and said that one attack on a Serbian state radio and television station might constitute a war crime.

In an interview with British commercial television Lord Robertson said that, while he had been a member of Amnesty and believed it was a good organisation in examining breaches of human rights, it did not have the jurisdiction to deal with the investigation of war crimes.

He said the international criminal tribunal had concluded that Nato did not act outside international law or target civilians. Lord Robertson was speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of the United Nations taking charge in Kosovo after the Nato bombing campaign.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service