Kosovo eyes November 28 independence declaration

PRISTINA, Serbia, July 20 (Reuters) Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku said today the province should declare unilateral independence from Serbia on November 28, arguing that a Western bid to steer its secession through the United Nations had failed.

Faced with a threatened Russian veto, the West looks likely today to shelve the latest, watered-down UN resolution on the fate of the UN-run province.

November 28 marks Albanian independence day, a date also celebrated by Kosovo's 90-per cent Albanian majority.

Ceku said the Kosovo parliament should adopt a resolution setting the date on his return from Washington, where on Monday he is due to meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

''It is a day of celebration,'' he told reporters after meeting Kosovo's UN governor, Joachim Ruecker. ''The United Nations has failed to act,'' he added.

Ceku said he had proposed the move to his fellow leaders on Kosovo's so-called 'Unity Team', a pact of government and opposition leaders.

He did not say whether the rest of the team had agreed.

Russia is frustrating Western efforts to steer Kosovo's secession through the UN Security Council, eight years since NATO allies wrested control of the territory from Serbia to halt the killing of Albanians in a two-year counter-insurgency war.

The United States has indicated it would support a unilateral declaration, but the 27-member European Union fears it fragile unity on the future of Kosovo would crumble.

Kosovo Albanian leaders face mounting public pressure to strike out alone, and threats of unrest if they do not.

Ceku said the resolution would invite the European Union to take over supervision of the territory from the United Nations, as proposed in a UN blueprint for 'supervised independence' and which Serbia and Russia have rejected.

Moscow has rejected the latest draft UN resolution, which calls for another 120 days of Serb-Albanian talks and would mandate the EU to take over from the UN mission. Russia says it amounts to independence by the back door.

Reuters CS GC1517