"Stand up to the thugs and extremists. Stand up to them or be ruled by them is the choice that faces people here," Robertson told journalists during his brief visit to the province.

Robertson, accompanied by the 19 members of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) as well as seven NATO ambassadors whose countries will join the Alliance next year, met Kosovo's top international and local officials.

The delegation held talks with the head of the UN mission here, Michael Steiner and the commander of NATO's Kosovo force, General Fabio Mini.

Robertson warned of the risk that the province's fragile progress on the path to peace since the end of the 1998-99 Kosovo war could be marred by organized crime and extremism, but pledged support from NATO which has over 20,000 peacekeepers stationed here.

"We believe in zero tolerance for thugs and for thieves and we are not prepared to see Kosovo that we saved... turned over to organized criminals and those who use brutality in the name of ethnic nationalism," Robertson said.

NATO bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days in 1999 in a bid to prevent stop a crackdown by Serb forces on the ethnic Albanian majority seeking independence from Belgrade.

Since then, the southern Serbian province has been under UN and NATO control, whose officials make vital decision on Kosovo's future, while locally elected institutions deal with daily issues.

However, problems are abundant as minorities are being intimidated, the economy is being plundered and unemployment is high.

"All that we ask now is that people recognize that the future is in the hands of the people here and that they must show the tolerance and the understanding of others," Robertson said.

Some 200,000 ethnic Serbs fled the province after the Kosovo war in fear of revenge attacks by the ethnic Albanian majority which is bitter after years of repression by Belgrade.

Some 80,000 Serbs remaining in Kosovo live an isolated life, secluded from the Albanian majority and guarded by the NATO-led peacekeepers.

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