The prime minister's official spokesman, speaking from Macedonia, said Mr Blair would not be travelling until the area was stabilised.

Mr Blair's spokesman is in Macedonia, having visited Pristina, in his role in helping Nato cope with some 2,000 journalists.

He said: "These visits do put quite a strain on the local military infrastructure, so I think we will just wait until it settles down a bit.

"But he does want to go and he does want to go to a refugee camp outside Kosovo again because obviously these people are going to be there for some time."

The Serb withdrawal is going according to plan

The spokesman said the Serb withdrawal from Kosovo was going according to plan, despite the extra 24 hours allowed for the pullout.

There are now some 14,000 Nato troops on the ground in Kosovo, 6,267 of them British.

The sheer weight of troops and vehicles going into Kosovo from the K-For side, plus traffic jams and breakdowns has held the process up somewhat, continued the spokesman

But Lieutenant General Sir Mike Jackson had said everything was on track to complete the withdrawal within 11 days and there was very high compliance with the withdrawal agreement.

Even handed

The spokesman said General Jackson had made it very clear Nato was determined to be even handed and that message was getting out despite Serb propaganda.

K-For was neither pro Serb nor pro-Albanian, it was pro peace and stability, he said.

He went on to describe how war crimes investigators were uncovering evidence even more shocking than expected, every step forward revealed fresh evidence of barbarism and brutality.

At the daily Ministry of Defence briefing, Defence Secretary George Robertson also described the horrific mass graves discovered by British paratroopers and other Nato troops this week.

George Robertson: Milosevic will face justice

He said: "I mention these terrible events not just to shock but to remind us all of why we are in Kosovo.

"Milosevic and his henchmen have been responsible for atrocities in Kosovo and in Bosnia the like of which have not been seen on our continent for half a century and which we hope never see again.

"And I say to Milosevic today, and indeed to Arkan who had the barefaced cheek to show his face on western television and to all of those others responsible for the brutality in Kosovo and Bosnia, you are eventually going to face justice."

Mr Robertson said that despite dangers and difficulties General Jackson had made remarkable progress

Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Charles Guthrie described to the briefing how mines in Kosovo were a major threat to civilian population as well as Nato forces.