Kosovo's leaders warn 'no delays'

Pristina, Serbia: Kosovo's leaders said they would participate in new negotiations - but they warned yesterday that, beyond that, they will accept no further delays in settling the province's final status. And they pledged not to retreat from their demand for independence.

Their statement comes amid calls from Western powers and Russia for four months of talks between the ethnic Albanians and Serbia.

President Fatmir Sejdiu told the province's assembly the new talks would be the last attempt to win support for independence, a move Serbia vehemently rejects. Russia supports the Serbian position.

"We consider this will be the last delay and we will not accept any other deadlines," Sejdiu told the lawmakers.

"We stress that Kosovo's independence is not negotiable," he said.

Veto threat

UN-sponsored talks failed to settle the province's future, largely because of Russia's threat to veto any endorsement of Kosovo's independence. Since then, attempts to hammer out a deal between Belgrade and Pristina have moved to the so-called Contact Group for Kosovo, comprised of diplomats from the US, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Russia.

US and European officials have agreed to 120 days of talks. The EU has named Wolfgang Ischinger, a German diplomat, to represent it. He will join envoys from the US and Russia.

Ethnic Albanian leaders will participate but have showed no signs of compromise.

"In order to move ahead we need to sit down once again, and for the last time," Hashim Thaci, the former rebel leader turned politician, said in a rare address to the province's assembly. "But Kosovo's independence is not negotiable."

Kosovo formally remains a part of Serbia, but it has been under United Nations administration since 1999, when Nato airstrikes ended then-Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Tensions between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the province remain high.

Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated yearlong talks, has recommended the province gain internationally supervised independence with broad rights for the Serb minority. His plan is supported by the US and the European Union.