U.N. mission visiting Serbia's Kosovo

PRISTINA, Serbia, April 27 (UPI) -- Kosovo's president told a U.N. mission an ethnic-Albanian government would guarantee rights for minority Serbs if the province is granted independence.

Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu said Friday that southern Serbia's mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province has no political option except independence from Belgrade, Serbia's RTS radio-television reported.

Addressing reporters in Pristina after his talks with the U.N. Security Council's fact-finding mission, Sejdiu said he expected the province's status would be resolved on the basis of a U.N. plan that gives internationally supervised independence to Kosovo.

The Serbian government in Belgrade, speaking on behalf of 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo, rejects the idea of an independent Kosovo, while leaders of Kosovo's 1.6 million ethnic-Albanians insist on independence from Serbia.

The Security Council late this year is to announce a decision on the status of Kosovo, the U.N.-administered territory since 1999, when NATO troops were deployed to curb ethnic conflicts.

About 15,000 Serbs, who were displaced from the province in the 1999 ethnic fighting, gathered for a two-day protest at the Serbian border with Kosovo to demand the free return to their homes. The protest ended Friday without incident, organizers said.