Six months ago, 850,000 Kosovars had fled the province and
another half million had deserted their homes and fled to
the mountains. Neighboring Albania, Bosnia and the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia faced the humanitarian
crisis of dealing with the refugees. Countries around the
world began offering safe haven.

NATO officials paint a much different picture today. The
alliance's Kosovo Force of almost 50,000 troops from 34
nations, including about 6,000 Americans, has a "robust
presence" throughout the province, they said.

NATO forces have been working closely with the U.N. Mission
in Kosovo. Officials said electrical service has resumed in
the province and now-revived electrical pumps have restored
water supplies for the population as well.

NATO's home-heating "winterization" project is about 70
percent complete. German Lt. Gen. Klaus Reinhardt,
commander of the Kosovo Force, defined the goal as all
Kosovar families being able to heat at least one room of
their homes. The alliance is seeking monetary help from the
international community to complete the project.

The general told NATO defense ministers meeting here Dec. 2
that more than 810,000 refugees have returned to the
province. The weekly return rate of about 4,500 refugees
includes an increasing number of ethnic Serbs, he said.

Reinhardt's troops have demined 544 schools, allowing
classes to resume in the province. Explosive ordnance
disposal teams report clearing 7,408 bomblets, 6,130 anti-
personnel mines and 3,481 anti-tank mines.

The Kosovo Force reports it has a handle on provincial
security and that the general trend for crime is down. In
his update, Reinhardt noted his troops are taking up slack
caused by a shortage of police. When NATO moved in last
summer, the murder rate in Kosovo was an estimated 190 per
100,000 population -- the rate today is 25 per 100,000, or
down more than 85 percent.