BELGRADE (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency`s top official in Kosovo said it would not be possible for ethnic Serbs who have fled the province to escape revenge attacks by Albanians until the security situation improved. Denis McNamara, of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news conference the agency was concerned about the violence in the province. "Our appeals have been to all parties and all concerned that this refugee cycle created by violence and revenge must stop if there`s to be any chance for this region to enjoy political and economic development," McNamara said. He added: "Population stability is one of the cornerstones of that." The U.N. official said that once the situation was safe in Kosovo the UNHCR would organise the Serbs` return. "Regrettably in our assessment those safe and secure conditions for the return of these

peole do not presently exist, and therefore the UNHCR cannot at this stage support the return of these people." He said that some 180,000 Kosovo Serbs had fled to other parts of Serbia since the end of NATO`s 11-week bombardment of Yugoslavia and the return of some 750,000 ethnic Albanians who fled or were driven out of the province. Together with some 500,000 Serb refugees from Croatia and Bosnia following wars there, Serbia was now host to the largest population of refugees in the region, McNamara said. "This is a major humanitarian challenge, and with the approach of winter we will be increasingly drawing the attention of the international community to it," he added.