Serbs warns US against policy of force on Kosovo

BELGRADE, Sep 9 (Reuters) Serbia disregarded European Union calls for less provocative Serb rhetoric on Kosovo at the weekend and warned that the United States was leading the West down a path of force to make the province independent.

As foreign ministers meeting in Portugal admitted differences on Kosovo among the EU's 27 member states, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica attacked Washington's ''threat'' of illegal recognition of the breakaway territory as an independent state.

Serbia, backed by Russia, is on a collision course with the West over Kosovo and hopes to persuade hesitant EU member states to resist big power pressure for recognition of independence as the only viable solution to deadlocked talks over its future.

In a statement responding to US promises that Kosovo would get independence whether on not the UN approves, Kostunica said Serbia ''is faced with a direct threat by the United States that it will recognise the independence of Kosovo ... in an illegal way''.

''Using the policy of force, the US threatens openly that it will not respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia, which is an internationally recognised state and a U.N.

member,'' he said in an appeal to the UN Security Council.

Serbia's ally Russia has blocked a UN plan to give Kosovo independence under EU supervision. The province's 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority, who have been under UN rule for the past eight years, say they are ready to declare independence in December.

Kostunica ignored a senior EU official's demand for clarification of an aide's remarks that Serb troops would have the right to enter an ''illegal'' Kosovo state.

The EU said the threat violated a promise Serbs and Albanians made to international mediators not to use provocative language while last-ditch negotiations were under way.

VITAL FOR SECURITY EU foreign ministers yesterday vowed to maintain a united front on the fate of Kosovo once talks end on December 10.Diplomats say the prospects of a negotiated agreement by then that could win U.N approval look extremely slim.

Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency and must seek consensus in coming months, said avoiding a split was vital for security in the Balkans and ''key to the credibility of Europe's foreign policy''.

''I cannot conceive that we could have ... a situation where there is a strong position of Russia, a strong position of the United States, and where Europe simply does not exist,'' he said.

Britain and France are among EU states ready to recognise Kosovo's independence. Germany's position is less clear. Spain, Hungary, Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus and Romania are reluctant and other governments are showing signs of ambivalence.

A split over Kosovo would shatter the EU's efforts to be a credible foreign policy player more than a decade after it failed to halt the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

The EU, which then had only 15 members, backed United States and major NATO allies in 1999 when they decided -- without a UN mandate -- to bomb Serbia into submission in order to force its troops out of Kosovo. The bombing went on for 78 days.

Independent estimates say up to 10,000 civilians were killed in 1998-99 as Serb forces battled Albanian guerrillas, and 800,000 were driven out in a bid to ''ethnically cleanse'' the run-down province Serbs treasure as their ancient heartland.

Kosovo Albanians say there is not the slightest chance of them agreeing to live under Serbian sovereignty once more, and Serbia has made no offer to reintegrate them into Serb society.

REUTERS RS AS0835