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UNITED NATIONS - Western nations are pressing for a UN Security Council decision within the next week on independence for Serbia's Kosovo province, but council president China said the big powers were as divided as ever.
The prime minister of Kosovo, whose mainly Albanian population has been under UN administration for eight years, appealed to the United States to set a date for independence, signalling rising impatience with the deadlock in New York.
Nato countries say Kosovo must be promised independence soon or Albanian frustration will erupt, but Russia, a veto-holding power in the council, will not agree without the approval of its ally Serbia, which is adamantly opposed.
"It is our view that we need to make a decision on this relatively soon, that one way or another there will be a change of status in Kosovo towards independence," US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said after a council debate on Kosovo.
"We will work with our colleagues to get a resolution presented this week, and that within a week there has to be a decision ... I believe that the next week, 10 days, is a decisive period," he told reporters.
However, Khalilzad and other Western envoys stopped short of saying they would force a council vote on a resolution that would likely be vetoed by Russia, presenting the West with a dilemma over what to do if Kosovo then declared independence.
China's Ambassador Wang Guangya gave no sign he was ready to be rushed. "I think that from the comments made by member states it seems that council members are still divided and so I believe that we still need more time," he told journalists.
Kosovo, where 90 percent of the 2 million people are Albanians, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when Nato bombs forced out Serb troops that were killing and expelling Albanians in a two-year war with guerrillas.
The West has offered four months of more talks between Serbs and Albanians to try to bring Russia on board although 13 months of talks ended in March in stalemate, and UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari has said an agreed solution is impossible.
Russia has rejected two Western drafts of a resolution that would lead to Kosovo independence. Diplomats said Western countries were discussing a fresh draft on Monday that made further attempts to accommodate Moscow. They gave no details.
In the Kosovo capital Pristina, Prime Minister Agim Ceku called for a "new approach" in light of Russia's opposition, and again hinted at a unilateral declaration of independence.
" (US) President (George W.) Bush said that one day we should say 'enough is enough'. This 'enough' should have a date. We need a clear calendar, a clear date and a clear way to resolve Kosovo's status," he said in a weekly radio address.
But US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, visiting Kosovo, said he did not believe that, "at this point, unilateral declarations based on fear and lack of confidence will help the cause of Kosovo independence."
"It is the belief of my government that the way ahead through a limited period of negotiation is the best way forward," he told reporters after meeting Ceku.
Fried said Kosovo's leaders would travel to Washington to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later in July.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated on Monday that Moscow would only support a solution acceptable to both Serbia and Kosovo.
But Britain's UN envoy Karen Pierce told journalists: "I think it would be foolish of Mr Lavrov to give Serbia a veto over Russian policy, never mind the Security Council."
Pierce said the Western bloc hoped "to be able to move forward with a resolution shortly," while French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said: "I think now we are not very far from the end of our consultations."
They were speaking after a briefing from UN Kosovo envoy Joachim Ruecker, who diplomats said had spoken of the "clear and present political risks" of delaying the issue.
"We face the risk of the current (Kosovo) leadership - which has been fully committed to, and constructively engaged in, the UN-led process - being replaced by those who do not believe in this process," Ruecker was quoted as saying.
- REUTERS
