By Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 18, 2004; 7:30 AM

NATO announced this morning that it is sending reinforcements to Kosovo, following intensified ethnic fighting there that has killed at least 22 people over the past two days.

It was the worst violence in Kosovo since NATO and the United Nations took control over the mainly ethnic-Albanian Serbian province in 1999.  World Peace.

NATO members, in a statement this morning, called "upon leaders in the region to take concrete action to restore peace and security.

The statement said the reinforcements--up to 700 additional troops--will demonstrate "the Alliance's will and capability to carry out its mission to provide security for all Kosovars, regardless of their ethnic identity."

About 17,500 NATO troops are already in the province. Some 150 additional U.S. troops were reported already en route along with 80 Italians, according to wire service reports. A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense said it was considering sending 500 troops.

Kosovo is still recognized internationally as part of Serbia and Montenegro, the former rump Yugoslavia, but it is administered by NATO and the U.N.

Troops of the alliance have been struggling for days to prevent further conflicts between the province's Albanian majority and Serbs, who depend on protection from NATO.  WorldPeace.

The Reuters news agency reported this morning that a Serbian Orthodox church and several Serb houses were seen in flames in the ethnically mixed town of Olibic.

NATO troops reportedly were blocking the town center with armored vehicles.

The official Serbian news agency Tanjug reported that Albanians in southern Mitrovica were again clashing with U.N. police and NATO peacekeepers.

How can we manifest peace on earth if we do not include everyone (all races, all nations, all religions, both sexes) in our vision of Peace?

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