Nato to send 2,000 more troops to Kosovo for vote

About 2,000 troops from France, Germany and Italy will go to Kosovo next month to reinforce Nato peacekeepers before a potentially divisive election in the United Nations-run province.

Nato's new Kosovo commander, Lt. Gen. Yves de Kermabon of France, said yesterday the reinforcements would be deployed in early October in an operation named "Determined Commitment".

They will raise Nato strength to 20,000 troops or about one soldier for every 100 people in the territory, and will remain in Kosovo until the end of the month.

"This shows the international community is willing to support this democratic process," Mr Kermabon said, referring to parliamentary elections set for October 23.

The Nato-led peace force, KFOR, was heavily criticised for its slow response to devastating riots in March, when Albanian mobs impatient for independence from Serbia overran minority Serb enclaves guarded by international peacekeepers.

Nineteen people died and up to 800 homes were destroyed in the worst spasm of violence since Nato bombed Serbia in 1999 to halt a brutal crackdown against Kosovo's Albanian majority.

The situation has since calmed, but Western diplomats and observers say there is still a danger of fresh violence.