UN accused of Kosovo failure

Almost three years after the end of the war in Kosovo, the United Nations is being accused of failing in the province and effectively allowing it to be split into separate Serb and Albanian entities.

A report by the International Crisis Group, a respected political thinktank, says the UN has let the Serb government extend its grip on Serbian-speaking areas of Kosovo, leading to its partition.

The report focuses on the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica in the north of the province, which has been the scene of frequent inter-ethnic violence and clashes with police and peacekeeping troops.

It says the UN has failed to establish its authority there and in other Serb-speaking areas, and it suggests that the French troops who patrol Mitrovica should be replaced by a more robust force.

Ever since Nato soldiers entered Kosovo, a self-styled security force known as the bridgewatchers has been allowed to patrol in Mitrovica.

The group sees itself as the defender of the Serb dominated north of the town, which is divided from the Albanian dominated south by the River Ibar. Frequent battles have broken out close to the city's two main bridges.

The report says Serbian central government expenditure in Kosovo has recently been unusually high, considering that the province is meant to be entirely under the UN's control - and some funding goes to members of the bridge-watchers, who reportedly come under the authority of the Serbian secret service.