US says Kosovo unstable, needs clarity this year

PRISTINA, Serbia, Sep 27 (Reuters) The breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo is not stable and its future must be resolved this year, a United States envoy said today.

''We must move ahead now,'' US Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried told reporters in the provincial capital Pristina.

''... the present situation is not inherently stable,'' he said after meeting leaders of Kosovo's pro-independence ethnic Albanian majority.

The comments reflect concern in the West that delaying a decision into next year on whether to grant the United Nations-run province independence risks fresh violence.

''The people of Kosovo deserve greater clarity and as we approach the end of the year I suspect they will get greater clarity,'' he added.

Russia, Serbia's traditional Orthodox ally in the UN Security Council, has cautioned against ''artificial deadlines'' -- insisting Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians be given time to reach a negotiated settlement in talks that began in February.

Washington and the major European powers are pushing for a decision this year. They instructed UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari last week to draw up his proposal, which Western officials say could be submitted to both sides by November.

Diplomats say independence is the likely outcome, but will almost certainly be rejected by Serbia.

The territory of two million people -- 90 percent of whom are Albanians -- has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombed for 78 days to drive out Serb forces accused of ethnic cleansing in a two-year counter-insurgency war.

In the Serbian capital Belgrade yesterday, Fried said that neither Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica nor President Boris Tadic had lobbied Washington for a delay. Reports say the leaders fear a Kosovo body-blow would drive voters into the arms of ultranationalists in elections that appear imminent.

Rich in Serb Orthodox heritage and still home to 100,000 Serbs, Kosovo holds almost mythic status for many Serbs.

''I do not know precisely what the future of Kosovo will be,'' Fried said today. ''But it must not be the future of nationalism, it must not be the future of monoethnicity.'' He visits the mainly Serb north tomorrow, where there are signs of increasing resistance as a decision nears. The north already functions as a parallel system propped up by Belgrade.

Analysts say Serbs in the north, fearing for the future in an independent Kosovo, could try to secede.

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