Kosovo independence looms but brief delay on cards

BELGRADE, Oct 31 (Reuters) Kosovo got the clearest signs yet today that independence is coming, but the United States and the European Union seemed divided on whether to delay a UN decision so that Serbia can hold an election first.

''It is the firm view of the US that a delay offers no advantages to any party,'' said Frank Wisner, US envoy to the breakaway Serbia province that has been run by the United Nations for the past seven years.

''The United States further believes that delay can only leave in limbo the definition of this region, which needs to close its door on the past and to define its future,'' he said in Belgrade after meeting Serbian officials.

Western powers are wary that delaying a UN decision on a Kosovo proposal by envoy Martti Ahtisaari -- reported to recommend a two-year path to statehood -- could invite trouble from ethnic Albanian extremists.

But some fear pushing it through before a Serbian election could boost the vote for anti-Western nationalist hardliners.

The US is not convinced by the argument but Wisner, leaving room for compromise, said that until an election date was set Washington could not say if a delay would make sense.

The UN launched talks on Kosovo's final status in February aiming to complete them by end 2006. But there has been no compromise on the key issue. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence; Serbia rejects the demand.

Ahtisaari has given UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan his 'preliminary ideas' on the future of Kosovo, which do not use the word independence yet, but offer a clear path to statehood over the next two years.

The plan sets ''criteria which characterise an independent country'', a senior Western diplomat in Kosovo told Reuters.

Diplomats say the blow to Serb pride from losing 15 per cent of its territory could tilt voters towards hardline anti-Western nationalist parties if it is delivered before a Serbian election now considered imminent.

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