No breakthrough on Kosovo status

The Contact Group on Kosovo says the status quo is not sustainable

The leaders of Serbia and its breakaway Kosovo province have failed to make any major progress at their first direct talks on the territory's future status.

Serbia said it had offered Kosovo broad autonomy at the talks in New York, but the province's ethnic Albanians had demanded full independence.

Foreign mediators said talks would now continue on 14 October in Brussels, and expressed optimism about the outcome.

But Serbian PM Vojislav Kostunica said he was disappointed by the stalemate.

The government in Belgrade is rejecting a UN plan to grant the territory supervised independence.

The UN has administered Kosovo since a Nato bombing campaign forced out Serbian troops in 1999.

'Good sign'

Kosovo leader Fatmir Sejdiu told reporters after the talks that he had proposed "a treaty of friendship between our two countries as two sovereign and independent nations".

The other [side] is encouraged by some countries, mostly the United States, not to negotiate feeling quite secure because it can be granted its independence Vojislav Kostunica, Serbian PM

But he said the Serbian leaders "held steadfast to their position and the views that they had presented several times already".

For his part, Serbian President Boris Tadic said Belgrade was offering Kosovo "sustainable and substantial autonomy".

"We are providing the best possible conditions for the national Albanian ethnic group of Kosovo. We hope that we are going to achieve a compromise solution," he said.

A joint declaration issued after the meeting said that "the parties reiterated their commitment to engage seriously in these talks".

EU mediator Wolfgang Ischinger told reporters that both sides had hinted that "they wish this process to continue... This is a good sign".

But Mr Kostunica said he was "a bit disappointed" by the outcome "because this is the second round of talks that has happened in two years".

"I'm afraid the other [side] is encouraged by some countries, mostly the United States, not to negotiate feeling quite secure because it can be granted its independence," he added.

December deadline

Ahead of Friday's historic talks, Mr Tadic warned the UN General Assembly of unforeseeable consequences if Kosovo declared independence unilaterally.

He clearly reaffirmed his country's position that an independent Kosovo would be unacceptable.

And he warned that if there was a one-sided recognition of that independence, it would set a precedent, with separatist movements everywhere seizing on it.

Ahead of the talks the so-called Contact Group - made up of the US, Britain, Russia, France, Germany and Italy - urged Belgrade and Pristina to seek common ground.

Kosovo's quest for independence has the backing of the US and most of the EU, although countries like Spain fear the impact it would have on separatists like Spain's Basque movement.

Serbia's ally at the UN Security Council, Russia, also opposes independence for the province.

But Kosovo has made clear it will accept nothing short of independence under UN supervision at the end of the negotiating process on 10 December.