Balkans: The unstable Balkan province of Kosovo braced itself for a bout of unrest last night when the prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, was indicted for war crimes by the international tribunal in The Hague, and his government collapsed.
Hundreds of additional British and German soldiers were rushed to the province, just before the announcement, to bolster security in case of riots.
Mr Haradinaj, an ethnic Albanian guerrilla leader against the Serbs, has become in recent years a highly regarded and effective politician.
The tribunal indicted him with crimes committed during the 1998-99 war when Slobodan Milosevic, who is on trial at The Hague for genocide and other offences, began a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the two million ethnic Albanians within the Kosovan population.
Serbia was defeated by an 11-week Nato air campaign. Mr Haradinaj was a regional commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the guerrilla force opposing the Serbs, in the west of the province.
He lost two brothers in the war, and another was jailed in Kosovo for the murder of Serbs and Albanian "collaborators".
The tribunal gave no details of the indictment, which Mr Haradinaj announced himself, but it is believed to cover crimes against humanity and commanding forces that murdered Serb civilians and Albanian collaborators.
Mr Haradinaj immediately resigned and said he would surrender to the tribunal today. His coalition government - comprising his own party (the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, which came third in the general election last October) and President Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic League of Kosovo, which came first - then resigned also.
The provincial government is under the supervision of the UN, which is backed by a peacekeeping force, K-For, of approximately 20,000.
Mr Haradinaj was lauded for the example he set by promptly surrendering and the statement he delivered, which was seen as urging his supporters not to cause trouble. He said: "I am a person of Kosovo and I willingly sacrifice myself for my country. I accept this burden. I also ask all of you to accept this fact . . . in order to do your country and your nation an honour."
Denis MacShane, the British foreign office minister for Europe, contrasted Mr Haradinaj's "very brave" decision with the conduct of notorious Balkan war crimes suspects who have been on the run for years.
The UN governor of Kosovo, Sorren Jessen-Petersen, praised his "dignity and maturity" and his bravery in putting the interests of Kosovo before his own. "I am saddened to be no longer working with a close partner and friend."
A UN official said the province remained calm and there were few signs of preparations for protests. "The next couple of days will be crucial."