New Kosovo talks must deliver quick solution-US

PRISTINA, Serbia, July 25 (Reuters) Talks on Kosovo due to start soon should produce a solution quickly to the future of Serbia's breakaway province, the United States envoy for Kosovo was quoted as saying today.

Frank Wisner told Kosovo's Express daily that as far as Washington was concerned, the talks due to be launched at a meeting in Vienna today ''are set for 120 days, so don't expect endless discussions''.

Envoys of the Contact Group -- the US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Russia -- were meeting later in the Austrian capital to set up the new round of negotiations, as demanded by Serbia and its backer, Russia.

They have agreed in principle on another spell of shuttle diplomacy between Belgrade and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders, who talked on and off for 13 months under U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari without finding any compromise.

Serbia opposes the Kosovo Albanian demand for independence and believes that with Moscow's help it has now successfully buried the Western-backed blueprint for supervised independence laid out earlier this year by Ahtisaari.

Last week, the US and European Union had to shelve a draft UN resolution based on the plan, because Russia seemed sure to veto it.

Belgrade considered it a victory.

Wisner said the round of negotiations ''led by the Contact Group will be an important last chapter, where all sides can put their thoughts 'on the table'''.

He noted that Washington still backs Ahtisaari's plan.

''We don't want a deadline, but the solution must be quick,'' the US envoy was quoted as saying.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999 when NATO bombs forced out Serbian troops who killed and expelled Albanians in a two-year war with guerrillas.

Its 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority says they will accept nothing less than independence. Serbia, which sees Kosovo as the cradle of its Orthodox faith, rejects secession.

It is not clear whether it is now the Contact Group -- an ad hoc, non-executive grouping in which no country has a veto -- that will make a final decision on Kosovo, or whether the issue would be returned to the Security Council once talks end.

The EU, which would take over supervision and policing of Kosovo from the United Nations, wants a UN mandate for the job otherwise some members may refuse to go along with independence.

When asked by Express, Wisner hinted that the US felt differently.

''Based on last week's experience, I simply don't think it (a return to Security Council) would be a useful path,'' he said.

REUTERS SBC KN1757