US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reassured officials from Kosovo that the US would push for recognition of the breakaway province's independence from Serbia within months.
The officials, who included the Kosovar prime minister and president, told Rice they would not upend new negotiations by unilaterally declaring independence, but would coordinate any move with the US.
"The United States made clear very firmly that the issue needs to be resolved sooner rather than later," Kosovar President Fatmir Sejdiu said in an interview on Monday.
The meetings followed the failure of the US and European countries to win Russia's support of a UN Security Council resolution endorsing independence.
Following a move by the Security Council to set aside a resolution on Kosovo, the US and the EU said on Friday they would move the forum for deciding Kosovo's status to the Contact Group on Kosovo -- which includes representatives from the US, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Russia.
LAST ATTEMPT
US and European officials have agreed to allow 120 days for further negotiations that would include talks with Kosovo and Serbia in a last attempt to reach an agreement.
Sejdiu said the US had reassured Kosovo that countries will move quickly after the 120 days have passed to recognize Kosovo's independence. That move would happen regardless of objections from other countries including Russia, Sejdiu said.
"We can see that the United States is very serious about this 120 days of engagement and this was quite an assurance," he said. "It is quite evident that independence will be the outcome at the end of that engagement period and that independence is inevitable."
US officials have said the US would move to recognize Kosovo within months, though they have not specified the 120-day period.
During a visit to Albania last month, US President George W. Bush hinted that the US could recognize Kosovo even without Security Council consent, saying there cannot be endless negotiations over its independence.
The Kosovar population is predominantly ethnic Albanian.
Sejdiu expressed disappointment that the Security Council was unable to reach a consensus and that the resolution on Kosovo's future was set aside on Friday in the face of a possible Russian veto.
GRAVE FAILURE
"It was a grave failure that was a big disappointment to everybody," he said.
The talks in Washington followed a comment by Kosovar Prime Minister Agim Ceku suggesting that the province's parliament should adopt its own resolution setting Nov. 28 as a possible date for declaring independence.
But Sejdiu said that Kosovo would not declare independence without coordinating with its allies.
"Of course at a certain stage the Kosovo parliament will announce the status of Kosovo, its independence," he said. "But this will only be done in a close partnership and agreement with the countries that support Kosovo's independence."
Senior US officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for attribution, said that all the officials in Monday's talks, including Ceku, agreed on coordinating a declaration of independence.
INSTABILITY
Sejdiu said that delay beyond the 120 days could lead to political instability in Kosovo. The moderate political forces represented by the delegation are under pressure from more radical parties and the public to show that they will deliver independence.
Although Kosovo remains a province of Serbia, it has been under UN and NATO administration since 1999 when a 78-day NATO-led air war halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
The UN's special envoy on Kosovo recommended internationally supervised independence in April.
Tomorrow, US officials, including Rice, will discuss the province's future with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic in Washington.
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