Serbian security forces are systematically raping Kosovo Albanian women, according to consistent reports which are emerging from among the Kosovo refugees.

In other instances, soldiers are demanding 1,000 Deutschemarks ($500) from women, in payment for not being raped.

The accounts of rape have evoked memories of the 1992 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where thousands of women were forced into "rape camps" by Serbian militia.

Mrs Ogata, who was speaking after a visit to the refugee camps in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, said she had raised the issue with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, president of the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal said she was "stunned and horrified" at reports from Kosovo, which included "allegations of indiscriminate violence, destruction and theft of property, mass roundups, and systematic torture, rape and murder".