UN confident of careful steps to Kosovo status

PRISTINA, Serbia, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Wednesday it was confident Kosovo Albanians would not rush the West into a decision on the territory's fate after a Dec. 10 U.N. report on failed negotiations with Serbia.

"I fully sympathise with everybody who says we now need a solution very soon," the head of the U.N. administration in the territory, Joachim Ruecker, told a news conference. "But I also think it is very, very important to get the next steps right."

Ruecker said leaders of Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority understood the need to let the U.N. and European Union draw conclusions from the report, "and then go from there."

Kosovo Albanians say the next step is a declaration of independence, defying Russia and ending eight years of U.N.-imposed limbo since NATO bombs wrested control of the province from Slobodan Milosevic's Serbia.

But Kosovo's prime minister-apparent, ex-guerrilla fighter Hashim Thaci, has stressed the declaration will be made "in close coordination" with those countries likely to recognise it - the United States and major EU states.

Political sources in Kosovo say such a move is unlikely before mid-January, and might have to wait until after Serbia holds a presidential election -- possibly in late January - to avoid boosting the chances of Serb ultranationalists.



NATO BRACED

Mediators from the United States, Russia and the European Union ended four months of inconclusive talks last week in Austria, saying compromise had proved impossible.

Russia insists the issue be decided by the U.N. Security Council. Moscow has already blocked a Western-backed plan for EU-supervised independence by threatening to use its veto.

The mediators say their report, which is due by Monday, will not prescribe a solution, or a way forward. The Security Council is expected to discuss the document on Dec. 19.

Washington and almost all EU member states support Kosovo's independence as the best option for stability in the Balkans.

But they want to coordinate a declaration to minimise the fallout and protect the unity of the 27-member EU, which is preparing to deploy 1,800 police officers and judges.

"I know the people of Kosovo have enough maturity to let those international mechanisms work, let them draw their conclusions and then go from there to the following steps, which have to be decided by governments," said Ruecker.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO allies bombed for 11 weeks to halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians - the 90-percent majority.

A 16,000-strong NATO-led peace force is braced for possible unrest or a backlash from the Serb north when Kosovo Albanians strike out alone. Serbia says it is lining up counter-measures, which could include a trade embargo and border closures.