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THE HAGUE, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A U.N. war crimes prosecutor on Wednesday warned Kosovo's ethnic Albanians against waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against their Serbian neighbours in retribution for Serb crimes against them.
Graham Blewitt, prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, said the Hague court still had jurisdiction over the province despite the end of NATO's 11-week bombing campaign and the withdrawal of Serb troops.
``We are very alert to the possibility that the Kosovo Liberation Army are themselves undertaking an ethnic cleansing campaign under the guise of revenge attacks,'' Blewitt said.
``If that is an official policy of the KLA, then clearly it falls within our jurisdiction and forms a part of our investigation. And I am saying that in the hope that it may act as a deterrent,'' he added.
In May, Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour indicted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and four associates over Kosovo. No charges have been brought against ethnic Albanians.
But on Tuesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch said it evidence of ``direct and systematic'' efforts to force Serbs and Romanies to leave their homes, including arson and looting.
NATO spokesman Jamie Shea estimated on Sunday that around 30 people were being killed each week in the Serbian province, where a lack of police and a justice system had contributed to a vacuum of law and order.
In the worst incident to date, 14 Serb farmers were ambushed and shot dead while harvesting grain outside the village of Gracko on July 23. Arbour has launched an investigation into the murders, which heightened fears of an upsurge in violence.
The KLA denied any involvement.
``There may be a cessation of hostilities but it is too early to say the armed conflict has ceased. It could erupt again. We are taking the position it is dormant,'' Blewitt said.
Prosecutors must prove the existence of an armed conflict if they are to press war crimes charges under international treaties, like the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Since Serbian security forces withdrew from Kosovo in mid-June, hundreds of thousands of Albanian refugees have returned home. Over the past six weeks, Kosovo has been plagued by abductions, murders and arson. Most victims have been Serbs.
So far 41 countries have promised about 1,900 police officers plus several hundred more for border units and special task forces, but only a handful have arrived.
KFOR troops have made several arrests. On Tuesday, peacekeepers said they were holding five Kosovo Albanians for the abduction and murder of a Serb man and had detained two others for the killing of an elderly Serb woman.