KFOR and UNMIK under severe criticism

The flood of criticism of NATO follows an exodus of Serbs from Kosovo since the deployment of the alliance-led force. The United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR said last week the province was now "almost Serb-free."

A Serbian opposition leader urged the commanders of the NATO-led KFOR force in Kosovo on Sunday to come up with a way of protecting Serbs in the province within 10 days or hand in their resignations. The strong-worded statement by Vladan Batic, coordinator of Alliance for Change, was part of a sudden chorus of condemnation of the treatment of Serbs in Kosovo from the government and opposition alike. "Instead of protecting Serbs, they glorify leaders of the KLA (the separatist ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army) and turn them into legends," a statement from Batic's Christian Democratic Party said.

Slobodan Vuksanovic, deputy leader of the opposition Democratic Party, said on Friday KFOR had clearly not fulfilled its task of protecting the whole Kosovo population. "KFOR has assumed the role of the silent observer of Albanian terror of Serbs," he told a news conference.

Father Sava from the monastery of Visoki Decani said that