Serbia Attacks Us for Backing Kosovan Breakaway

Serbia today condemned US support for Kosovo's independence after George Bush expressed impatience with foot-dragging over the fate of the breakaway Serbian province.

On national television, the Serbian prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, attacked American support for Kosovan Albanians who are seeking to sever ties with Serbia.

"America must find another way to show its affection and love for the Albanians, without offering them Serb territories," Mr Kostunica said.

"Serbia is rightfully outraged at the American policies on the issue of Kosovo."

Mr Kostunica's outburst followed comments from Mr Bush yesterday, when he was visiting Albania.

"At some point, sooner rather than later, you've got to say 'enough is enough - Kosovo is independent'," Mr Bush said.

Kosovo has become one of the main irritants in US-Russian relations, along with American plans for a missile defence shield in eastern Europe.

Moscow has threatened to veto any UN security council resolution that would set Kosovo on the path to independence.

Russia is a traditional ally of Serbia. Moscow also fears Kosovo's independence would set a precedent for Chechen separatists.

The row over Kosovo's future deepened on the eve of the eighth anniversary of Nato soldiers entering the province.

June 12 1999 saw the deployment of 60,000 Nato troops, who entered the territory from Macedonia as Serb forces withdrew to the north.

Serbia's counter-insurgency campaign against Albanian separatist guerrillas killed some 10,000 Albanian civilians and temporarily drove nearly a million from the country.

Kosovo has been under UN administration and Nato protection since June 1999 amid increasing impatience from the Albanians who make up 90% of the territory's population.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, last week failed at the G8 summit to win support for a six-month delay to any UN resolution in the hope of defusing Russian opposition.

Russia wants the Kosovan Albanians to hold fresh talks with Serbia to reach agreement.

But the UN special envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, said in March he had exhausted every possible avenue for a negotiated settlement and urged the security council to adopt his plan for independence, initially supervised by the international community.

The west fears that further delays in defining Kosovo's status could lead to renewed violence in the Balkans and a unilateral declaration of independence.

But Mr Kostunica said that "America made a big enough mistake" with the Nato bombing campaign in 1999 that forced the late Slobodan Milosevic to withdrew his army and paramilitary police from Kosovo.

"A new mistake in the form of one-sided support for Kosovo independence would present a new injustice and bullying that the Serb people would never forget," he said.

"There will never be an independent Kosovo for Serbia."