Rugova: 'Keep UN troops in Kosovo'

Nato troops caught in the middle of ethnic tensions

Ibrahim Rugova, leader of Kosovo's biggest ethnic Albanian party, wants Nato troops to stay in the region, even though he thinks Kosovo should recognised as an independent state.

Belgrade is still a military power in the region

LDK leader, Ibrahim Rugova

Mr Rugova was speaking at an international conference in Dayton, in the United States, to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the peace accord on Bosnia.

"We urge for those forces to stay there maybe forever," the moderate leader said.

"In the future it may have a different role, a presence in the region with bases in Kosovo.

"I consider the presence of Nato there as part of our independence."

Arrests call

During the closed-door meetings it was recommended that the international community should recognise the right for self government in Kosovo.

It also recommended that the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic be extradited to the war-crimes tribunal at the Hague.

Ibrahim Rugova won a landslide victory in elections last month

And it said that war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic should be arrested immediately.

"Arresting the war criminals will send a signal to all the extremists in Bosnia that the international community is genuinely committed to implementing the Dayton peace process," said Bruce Hitchner, director of the Dayton Peace Project.

Ibrahim Rugova and opposition leader Hashim Thaci, bitter political rivals at home, have also stepped up calls for the new Yugoslav government to release hundreds of ethnic Albanian Kosovars in Serb jails.

Mr Rugova said the potential for military threats from Belgrade, despite the ousting of Mr Milosevic whose ethnic cleansing in Kosovo last year sparked Nato's intervention, made its permanent presence unavoidable.

"That fear is always there," he said.

We urge the United States, no matter who is the president, to keep those forces in the region

Ibrahim Rugova

"Belgrade is still a military power in the region and it is important for the whole (Balkans) to have a substantial Nato presence there."

Mr Rugova also appealed to Texas Governor George W Bush to rethink his plans to reconsider US troop deployments in the Balkans should he become president of the United States.

"It is an American-led force and we urge those forces to stay there, maybe forever, under some different mandate in the future," he said.

"We urge the United States, no matter who is the president, to keep those forces in the region."