Mr Rugova, who has reportedly been living under house arrest in Pristina, was taken to Rome with his family on an Italian government plane.

Meanwhile in Germany, President Clinton has rallied US military personnel with a trenchant justification for Nato's action in the Balkans.

And in Macedonia, the UN says the government has again closed its border to Kosovo Albanian refugees.

A moderate abroad

Ibrahim Rugova (left) with the Italian prime minister

Ibrahim Rugova's arrival in Rome was an unexpected development, and after touching down he went straight into talks with the Italian Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema.

The moderate leader has been calling for an end to Nato military action and a peaceful solution to the Kosovo crisis, but western governments say he has been under the control of the Yugoslav Government.

Rome Correspondent David Willey: "Americans keen to speak to Rugova"

Italian officials described Mr Rugova's foreign trip as an important signal from President Milosevic that should not be ignored

BBC Correspondent in Belgrade Jacky Rowland says President Milosevic may feel that Mr Rugova's peace attempts will be more credible if he speaks from exile.

Clinton boosts support

In a visit aiming to boost support, stiffen Nato resolve and quell any doubts that the US was wavering, President Clinton told troops in Germany that those involved in the Kosovo campaign were helping to make the world safer for the 21st Century.

David Shukman in Germany: The President met the men he has ordered to bomb Serbia

Mr Clinton stressed that Nato would continue and intensify its air campaign against Yugoslavia, unless President Milosevic withdrew his forces from Kosovo.

"We are hitting them hard where it hurts - on the ground in Kosovo," he said on a visit to Spangdahlem military base, shortly before meeting the three US soldiers released by Yugoslavia on Sunday.

President Clinton: "Willingness to seize every diplomatic possibility"

"We have no quarrel with the Serb people," said the US president.

"Our quarrel is with ethnic cleansing."

His visit comes as Nato confirmed two US soldiers died when an Apache helicopter crashed in Albania. They are believed to be the first Nato casualties since air strikes began.

President Clinton goes on for talks on Thursday with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder - a meeting intended to boost the German leader's position, as his government faces growing public opposition to the war.

Nato boosts forces

(Click here to see a map of last night's Nato strikes)

Nato is to base 24 F-18 fighter bombers in southern Hungary, according to the country's Defence Minister, Janos Szabo.

It will be the first time Nato attack aircraft for the Kosovo conflict will have been based in the only Nato member state bordering Yugoslavia.

Mark Laity in Brussels: There is a greater sense of optimism that the campaign is working

The alliance's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Wesley Clark, earlier told President Clinton that the Yugoslav leadership and its military and security forces were vulnerable to collapse.

However he acknowledged it may be next spring before ethnic Albanians forced out of Kosovo can go home to anything like a normal life.

He also said the allies were working on enhancing the Kosovo "enabling force" in Macedonia, which was originally envisaged as a 28,000 strong peacekeeping force.

Macedonian border closed

The government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has again shut its Blace border crossing, stopping hundreds of Kosovo refugess from entering the country.

Refugees continue to bring tales of atrocities

Officials have demanded that Western governments do more to share the refugee burden immediately.

Macedonia, a tenth of whose population is now Kosovo refugees, says it will allow in only as many as the West airlifts out of the country.

The statement came as international donors pledged more than $250m to Macedonia.

The new aid was announced by Macedonia's Finance Minister Boris Stojmenov and World Bank and European officials after a meeting in Paris intended to provide a rapid response to the danger to Macedonia's fragile economy.

• Blace border closed
• Clinton's call to battle
• Two die in Apache crash
• No limits on UK refugees
• US Senate shelves Kosovo motion