US to push for Kosovo independence: Rice

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has reassured officials from Kosovo that the United States will push for recognition of the breakaway province's independence from Serbia within months.

The officials, including Kosovo's prime minister and president, told Rice that they would not upend new negotiations by unilaterally declaring independence, but would coordinate any move with the United States.

"The United States made clear very firmly that the issue needs to be resolved sooner rather than later," Kosovo's president, Fatmir Sejdiu, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The meetings follow the failure of the United States and European countries to win Russia's support of a United Nations Security Council resolution endorsing independence.

Following a move by the Security Council to set aside a resolution on Kosovo, the United States and the European Union 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.

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 says that the United States has reassured Kosovo that countries will move quickly after the 120 days have passed to recognise the province's independence.

That move would happen regardless of objections from other countries including Russia, according to Sejdiu.

"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 that the United States would move to recognise Kosovo within months, though they have not publicly specified the 120-day period.

During a visit to Albania in June, President George W Bush hinted that the United States could recognise Kosovo even without Security Council consent, saying there could not be endless negotiations over its independence.

Kosovo's population is predominantly ethnic Albanian