Letter: Collateral casualty

Sir: It is surely quite impossible for any refugees to return to Kosovo.

UN troops cannot protect them against terrorists in the hills. Can anybody in Belgrade call off the enraged paramilitaries? The more moderate Milosevic would need the hard-line Vojislav Seselj to back a cease-fire, but would the paramilitaries obey?

A UN protectorate would install a Kosovo provincial government under Ibrahim Rugova. This would enrage the KLA, followers of Chairman Mao, and they would continue the terror attacks on Serb residents, attacks which have been going on for years. Both sets of terrorists would regard UN soldiers as legitimate targets.

Kosovo is now an uninhabitable wasteland. The only possible positive action is to resettle the refugees in Western Europe. Their descendants might one day return.

Germany has taken 300,000 Bosnians. Britain is morally obliged to open its doors to as many Kosovans.

DEREK J COLE

St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex