US urges Kosovo leaders to be patient

WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Kosovo's leaders today to be patient in their push for independence after the United Nations put aside a resolution that Russia had threatened to veto.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku, who met Rice at the State Department along with other senior Kosovo officials, urged the province's parliament last week to declare independence from Russian ally Serbia on November 28.

While the United States strongly backs the breakaway province's bid for independence and is concerned by the UN delay, it is worried any unilateral move will spur violence.

''There is nothing to be gained by short-circuiting the diplomatic process that is underway,'' said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack as Rice met the Kosovo delegation.

McCormack said Washington ''remained in touch with Russia on the issue'' but reiterated U.S. support for independence as proposed by special U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

''Everyone wants the optimal solution which is as much buy-in from all the parties as possible. We have made clear what the end point of this process must be,'' McCormack added.

Last week Rice said Kosovo would get its independence ''one way or another,'' but the Kosovo delegation was expected to make clear to her that patience was running out over the pace of international diplomacy that will decide their future.

An official traveling with the Kosovo delegation said he had no immediate comment on the US discussions, which include talks with national security adviser Stephen Hadley.

With the UN route closed for the moment because of Russia's opposition, the so-called Contact Group, composed of Russia, the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Germany is expected to conduct talks with all sides for 120 days.

The group meets this week in Vienna but no one country has veto rights as Russia does in the U.N. Security Council.

Kosovo, where 90 per cent of the 2 million people are ethnic Albanians, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when a NATO bombing campaign forced out Serbian troops who were killing and expelling Albanians in a two-year war with guerrillas.

The UN draft resolution was to conduct further talks but also remove the United Nations from Kosovo and put a larger European civilian operation in place as well as establish a Kosovo force.

NATO troops would remain.

But Russia's UN Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, made clear that without the consent of close Russian ally Belgrade, Moscow would not support the resolution, which he called independence through the back door.

Serbia's foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, is due in Washington later this week for talks with Rice. Serbia opposes independence for Kosovo, seen by many Serbs as their spiritual heartland.

REUTERS SY BD2211