BELGRADE, Jan 18, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Over 800 Romany Roma have been either killed or abducted in Kosovo since the UN took over in the region in June 1999, a Romany spokesman said on Wednesday, according to the Tanjug news agency.

Jovan Damjanovic, president of the Union of Romany Associations in Serbia, claims to have detailed information on 150 Roma he said were killed by the former Albanian separatist militants, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

He said that the fate of a further 530 Roma who had been reported missing was still unknown and expressed his concern over the future of refugee return programs rehousing Romany and Serb refugees in Kosovo.

Despite the presence of 46,000 international peacekeepers, he said that Kosovo was a living hell where "those who are not Albanian fear for their lives and their property".

Over 200,000 Serbs and non-Albanians have fled Kosovo since June 1999 fearing violence at the hands of the Albanian majority, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Meanwhile Belgrade claims that over 1,000 Serbs have been killed or are missing in the breakaway province since the UN moved in at the end of NATO's bombing campaign, which ended the conflict in Kosovo in June 1999. ((c) 2001 Agence France Presse)