While UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that an ICC is needed to prevent the sort of rights violations and ethnic cleansing that accompanied the break-up of Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995, fresh examples of ethnic cleansing - directed this time against ethnic Albanians - sparked the NATO display of air power near Kosovo.

Eighty-five aircraft, led by US F-16 fighter planes, left from Aviano at first, as well as from bases in Greece, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and the Adriatic Sea, to show the unity and ''significant lethal capability'' of NATO forces if the Kosovo crisis worsens, US Defense Secretary William Cohen said.

''This is an exercise intended to demonstrate the alliance's commitment to peace and stability in the region and the alliance's ability to project power in the region,'' added Lt Gen Michael Short, commander of NATO's Southern Europe air forces. The air exercise achieved its objectives, Short said afterward.

Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev rebuked NATO commanders Monday, arguing that Moscow had not been informed of the air exercises, which were conducted over Albania and Macedonia, which border Yugoslavia and are near the Albanian-majority province of Kosovo. However, Cohen countered that ''it was very clear NATO expected the air exercises to take place.''

In any case, the flights from Aviano offered a powerful reminder to the delegates gathered at Rome about the need to counter crimes against humanity before they spin out of control.

Annan, for example, warned the delegates Monday of the evils, particularly evident during Yugoslavia's break-up, of ethnic cleansing, the practise of forcibly altering - often through massacres - the demographic composition of a territory. But human rights officials contend such ethnic cleansing is occurring in Kosovo now, with at least 300 ethnic Albanians believed killed - and thousands more having fled to Albania - since the recent Yugoslav crackdown on separatist elements in Kosovo.

Annan told reporters that he hoped a mix of the credible threat of force and of diplomacy could help solve the situation in Kosovo. Until then, he argued, ''I would hope that the establishment of this Court would send a powerful message to the world that impunity will not be tolerated.''