A Bradford academic has predicted that the war in Kosovo could cost Britain £1 billion a year for the next decade.

Dr Malcolm Chalmers, of the peace studies department at Bradford University, has published a paper on the huge costs of the conflict.

He estimates that the war is costing Nato $1.5 billion a month and that could go up by as much as a further $2 billion a month if there is an invasion force. Dr Chalmers also says a $5 billion rebuilding programme is also likely to be necessary when the conflict is over.

"The Kosovo war is proving to be a much bigger and more expensive affair than Nato military planners had anticipated," he said.

"Europeans will also have to pay most of the costs of economic assistance to the region."

His colleague in the peace studies department, Professor Paul Rogers, says Nato policy has been 'disastrous' so far and peace hopes rest on intervention by a new high-powered negotiating team.

The peace studies department celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and is the largest such department in the world.

It differs from other university's International Relations departments by being an 'applied' department actively seeking to prevent wars or bring them to an early end. But the academics and students working there did not share a 'party line', said Professor Rogers.

"Some of our students are very much opposed to the Nato bombing, others felt something had to be done," he said.

"Tony Blair is very committed to trying to turn around a humanitarian disaster. That is fairly rare in a politician - he is working from a very moral stance. It's just not working. In fact, it has been disastrous."

Dr Donna Pankhurst, who chaired an open meeting on the Kosovo crisis on Friday, attracting 400 people, said: "The peace studies department is playing a crucial role by creating a safe space for local people to exchange views and ideas, and promote debate."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.