§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on KFOR's efforts in preventing ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo. [133096]
§ Mr. SpellarCurrently KFOR estimates that the Serb community in Kosovo numbers between 80,000 and 100,000. Three out of four KFOR soldiers are dedicated to patrolling, manning checkpoints and mounting border controls. Each multinational brigade allocates an average of 400 personnel to tasks specifically linked to the protection of minorities and significant KFOR forces remain assigned throughout Kosovo to the protection of patrimonial sites on a 24 hours a day basis.
When KFOR arrived in Kosovo in June 1999 there was a weekly murder rate of 50. Now this figure is down to an average of five per week. The KFOR assessment is that the majority of crime is no longer ethnically motivated.
In the UK controlled sector of central Kosovo, KFOR troops have been doing pioneering work with UNMIK and NGOs to improve conditions of life and work there for the Serb community. Our troops have undertaken initiatives to provide permanent and mobile vehicle check-points in sensitive areas, watch towers to allow farmers to work in fields, random patrolling, raids on the houses of hard-liners and much more. With such initiatives under way, we hope to establish a measure of security both for the Serbs still present in Kosovo and for those who will feel confident enough to return. In addition, we are working to encourage Serb returns to villages in the central area of Kosovo.