U.S. envoy: Serbia seen as part of Europe

WASHINGTON, March 13 (UPI) -- A U.S. diplomat in Washington Tuesday said he told Serbian officials a United Nations plan for Kosovo is workable.

Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European affairs, back home after talks with leaders of Serbia and Kosovo's ethnic-Albanians last week, told reporters Serbia should be part of the European community and at peace.

In Serbia, Fried discussed the future status of Serbia's predominantly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province. A U.N. plan would give Kosovo the right to govern itself.

Fried said his talks with Kosovo Serbs suggest they want to live in peace and security and remain in Kosovo.

"It is clear that the people of Kosovo ... want in the main to live together," Fried said. "They are apprehensive about each other. There is clearly not a great deal of trust, but there is at least a determination to try to make the (U.N.) plan work."

Belgrade leaders oppose an independent Kosovo while leaders of ethnic-Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the province's 1.8 million population, insist on independence from Serbia.

U.N. administrators and NATO troops have been deployed in Kosovo since 1999 to curb ethnic conflicts.