The BBC's Mark Devenport reports: It is thought likely officers will be armed

At the reconstruction conference convened by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, financial contributions were also pledged to a UN trust fund for Kosovo. But disagreements remained among the participating countries over financial aid for the rest of Yugoslavia.

News of the international security effort came as British police officers investigating alleged war crimes in Kosovo said they had uncovered a site where 80 ethnic Albanians were massacred.

Mr Annan announced that several nations had promised to send over 1,900 of the 3,100 police needed as refugees return, and revenge attacks and lootings escalate in the province.

(Click here to see a map showing refugee movements)

But he told the high-level meeting of 18 foreign ministers and other representatives that it would be the job of the Nato-led K-For peacekeeping troops to keep order until the police could be deployed.

Only K-For had the capacity to establish a secure environment, "and therefore we welcome suggestions for its accelerated deployment", Mr Annan added.

The international peacekeeping force is eventually expected to have some 50,000 troops in Kosovo, about half of whom have been deployed.

Some 1,300 police officers had already been pledged at the start of the Friends of Kosovo conference - by the end that number had risen to 1,938. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright promised some 550 American officers and trainers, while Germany added another 200 at Wednesday's meeting.

The BBC's UN Correspondent, Mark Devenport, says it is thought likely that the officers will be armed - the first time UN civilian police would carry weapons.

Financial discord

Amid signs of agreement over security in the province, there were divisions at the meeting over financial assistance to Yugoslavia.

The flood of returning refugees is a big challenge for the UN

Mrs Albright said she favoured humanitarian relief, but she repeated Washington's view that nothing should be done to aid Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic while he was still in power.

"Let us resolve to do nothing to bolster the position of the current regime in Belgrade, whose leaders are wanted in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity," said the US secretary of state.

But Mr Annan said that without minimum assistance to Serbia - rebuilding bombed bridges and restoring water and electrical supplies - the economy of south-eastern Europe would be left with "a big hole of Serbia in the middle".

More 'massacre sites' uncovered

In the province itself British police officers investigating war crimes in Kosovo said they had uncovered the site of what they believe to have been the massacre of nearly 80 Kosovo Albanians.

The BBC's Mark Devenport reports on the alleged findings at Bela Crvka

Details of the massacre were given to journalists at the UN by UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook. The team arrived at the Bela Crvka site on Tuesday and exhumed over 20 bodies in one day, he said.

The killings are believed to have taken place around 25 March, when Serbian forces are understood to have attacked the village.

The massacre is one of the incidents mentioned in the war crimes indictment against President Milosevic.

The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, on Wednesday demanded that the Yugoslav leader be called to account for alleged atrocities committed in Kosovo after seeing for herself evidence of mass killings near the provincial capital Pristina.

The BBC's Michael Voss reports: Mrs Robinson called on the international community to have a greater presence on the ground

She said: "We must break the cycle of impunity. We know that President Milosevic and four other senior figures have been indicted. It is my hope that they will stand trial."

More evidence of apparent atrocities was uncovered by Italian troops who found the charred remains of 11 people in a burnt-out house in the village of Kalilane, near Pec.

The BBC's Michael Voss, who is in the province, says this region of western Kosovo suffered some of the worst ethnic cleansing and atrocities allegedly committed by Serb forces.

With the return of the refugees, the remaining Serb and gypsy communities have suffered from repeated revenge attacks. This time the victims are believed to be Kosovo Albanians, although the motive for these latest killings is unknown.

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