Holbrooke warns of Kosovo explosion if plan stalls

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Former U.S. Balkans peace broker Richard Holbrooke said on Monday that violence could explode in Kosovo as early as next month if Russia stalls a U.N. plan to give the breakaway Serbian province independence.

Holbrooke, who brokered a 1995 peace accord for Bosnia, told reporters the Western-backed plan for supervised independence drafted by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari was the best possible solution under the circumstances.

"If the Russians delay or dilute or veto it, then I'm afraid the long pent-up desire of the Albanians in Kosovo for a rapid move toward independence will explode into violence," he said.

NATO forces responsible for peacekeeping would need to be ready to act quickly to prevent an escalation of violence when the matter is debated in the U.N. Security Council next month, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said.

Holbrooke was in Brussels for a closed-door meeting of the Trilateral Commission of business and opinion leaders from the United States, Europe and Asia.

"The Russians should be aware of the consequences of their actions in New York," he said, accusing Moscow of emboldening hardliners in Belgrade by saying it would not support any plan the Serbians oppose. The province holds almost mythic status for Serbs, their so-called cradle stretching back 1,000 years.

Ahtisaari sent his plan to the Security Council last week after exhausting efforts to achieve a negotiated solution between the Serbian and Kosovo Albanian governments due to Serbia's total opposition to independence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said granting independence to Kosovo against the wishes of Serbia would set a dangerous precedent. But Moscow has not said if it will use its Security Council veto power to block the plan.

NATO waged an air war in 1999 to force Serbian troops out of the province and put an end to two years of violence in which 10,000 Albanians died and more than one million Albanians fled.

The Albanians make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million population. NATO heads a 16,500-strong peacekeeping force in the province.