PRISTINA, Serbia - Kosovo said on Monday it would immediately start talks with its Western backers on a declaration of independence from Serbia, which would come "much earlier than May".

Leaders of Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians made the announcement as a Dec. 10 deadline for a negotiated deal on the fate of the breakaway province passed without result.

"From today, Kosovo begins consultations with key international partners to coordinate the next steps to a declaration of independence," said Skender Hyseni, spokesman of Kosovo's "unity team" in negotiations with Serbia.

"Kosovo and the people of Kosovo urgently need clarity on their future," Hyseni said after leaders met. "The institutions of Kosovo will deliver that clarity very soon."

Kosovo Albanians, 90 percent of the population, have been held in limbo since NATO fought an air war in 1999 to halt a wave of ethnic cleansing by Serb forces in a counter-insurgency war. Around 10,000 people died, the vast majority Albanians.

They reject any return to Serb rule, but have promised to coordinate a declaration of independence with the United States and the European Union, which is due to take over supervision of the fledgling state from the United Nations.

Serbia, backed by Russia, opposes independence for land it sees as the historical cradle of the nation. Warnings of chaos in the Balkans appeared to have failed to divide the 27-member EU, which on Monday expressed almost "full unity" on the issue.

Asked to clarify speculation on the timing of a declaration, Hyseni said it would happen "much earlier than May". Diplomats say it could come in January or February, depending on the timing of an expected presidential election in Serbia.


PRECEDENT

Some 1,000 students marched in Kosovo's capital Pristina, chanting "Independence" and waving the U.S. flag. "Europe, show unity," read one placard. Kosovo Albanians are desperate for the jobs and investment they hope will come with statehood.

In a report submitted to the United Nations last Friday, mediators from the United States, European Union and Russia said four months of talks found no compromise between Serbia's offer of autonomy and the Albanian majority's demand for independence.

Washington and almost all EU member states see Kosovo's independence as the best option for stability in the Balkans, and the final step in the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The EU is preparing to deploy 1,600 police officers and appoint an overseer to replace the U.N. mission.

Russia blocked a Western-backed independence plan at the U.N. Security Council this summer, after more than a year of Serb-Albanian talks, and has warned Kosovo's secession will set a precedent for other separatist regions. The West now appears ready to move ahead without a new U.N. resolution.

NATO's 16,000-strong Kosovo peace force is braced for a violent backlash by the Serb north, and a possible bid to break away. Around 120,000 Serbs remain, most in isolated enclaves.

In the ethnically-divided town of Mitrovica, the likely frontline for any partition bid, hardline Serb leader Marko Jaksic said he expected Serbia to send in its army and police.

The new EU mission would be treated as "illegitimate, an occupying force," he told Reuters.