Plea to end Kosovo `genocide'

ALBANIA'S PRESIDENT Rexhep Meidani said the bloodshed and ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Serbia's Kosovo province should be stopped by "any means".

President Meidani flew to the northern region of Tropoje to meet some of the thousands of ethnic Albanians who have fled Kosovo for Albania in the past two weeks.

"With any means we have to stop the bloodshed and to stop the genocide and ethnic cleansing to create a new situation without the army or secret police (in Kosovo)." Mr Meidani said.

Pulling the security forces out of Kosovo is the key demand of the Contact Group of big powers. Hundreds of people have been killed - and thousands uprooted - since Serbia's security forces launched a campaign earlier this year to crush pro-independence guerrillas in Kosovo.