Albanian PM fears Serb bid to destabilize Kosovo

By Mark John

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Wednesday he feared a bid by Serbia to destabilize Kosovo as it seeks independence, urging the West to make clear Belgrade would face consequences if it did so.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders are expected to declare independence from Serbia with Western backing in coming days despite the opposition of Belgrade and its ally Moscow.

"I could not exclude that Belgrade will try to manipulate Serbs in Kosovo to show that independence was a wrong move," Berisha told Reuters in an interview during a trip to Brussels.

"I call on the international community to make clear to Belgrade that if it moves like that, it will face real consequences," he added, not specifying what action international players should take.

Berisha welcomed recent assurances by Serb officials they would not use force to maintain sovereignty over Kosovo, but feared that Belgrade could still try to foment anger among Serbs in northern Kosovo and so raise tensions across the region.

"They would create many northern Mitrovicas in the region and this is not very helpful for Serbia, for Macedonia, Albania, for all our countries which need peace and stability to move ahead," he said, referring to the ethnically-divided town in northern Kosovo viewed as a potential flashpoint for violence.

Political sources told Reuters in Pristina on Wednesday that an independence declaration could come the weekend after the February 3 presidential election if the nationalist candidate wins.

If the pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic wins, Kosovo Albanians would be expected to wait at least another week, declaring on February 17 at the earliest, the sources said.

Berisha urged ethnic Albanians to avoid any kind of provocation in the weeks ahead and reaffirmed Tirana's view that there was no question of the emergence of a "Greater Albania" comprising Albania, Kosovo and majority Albanian areas of other countries in the region.

"It is a myth. They (the Kosovo Albanians) are eager to go to Brussels not to Tirana," he said of Kosovo's prospects of closer ties with the EU and eventual membership.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since NATO's 1999 bombing campaign to halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanians by Serb forces in a two-year counter-insurgency war.

Serb ally Russia has blocked Kosovo's secession at the U.N. Security Council.

(Reporting by Mark John; editing by Ingrid Melander and Philippa Fletcher)