NATO and the United Nations should expand their security presence in Kosovo after failing to protect minorities from ethnic riots in March, a human rights group said in a report due out tomorrow.
The US-based Human Rights Watch said NATO soldiers and UN police had "failed catastrophically in their mandate to protect minority communities" as mobs of Albanians overran Serb enclaves in the UN-run province, torching up to 800 homes and dozens of religious sites.
The two days of violence, in which 19 people were killed and some 4,000 non-Albanians fled their homes, was the first time the ability of NATO and the United Nations to keep the peace had been seriously challenged in five years of international rule.
The 66-page report criticised the response of NATO's 19,000-strong peacekeeping force and 3,500 UN police officers, and pointed to a worrying lack of coordination.
"In numerous cases, minorities under attack were left entirely unprotected and at the mercy of the rioters", it said, adding much of the burden was placed on poorly equipped local police.
In response, the UN mission said the report failed "to show an understanding of the extent of the challenge this violence posed to security forces". A NATO spokesman said troops had quickly stabilised the situation and prevented "a crisis from turning into a civil war".