Thepresident of the UN Security Council has said there is "considerablesupport" for supervised independence for Kosovo.

MarttiAhtisaari, the UN mediator for Kosovo, recommended supervised independence forthe Serbian province last week - a recommendation opposed by Belgrade butbacked by the US and EU.

EmyrJones Parry, Britain'sUN ambassador and the council president for April, said the body wouldprobably begin to draft a resolution this month.

However,that may be opposed by Russia,a permanent Security Council member with the power of veto and an ally of Belgrade.

VojislacKostunica, the Serbian prime minister, addressed the council on Tuesday,arguing that the recommendation violates the UN charter by harming theterritorial integrity of a member state.

He calledfor new negotiations between Kosovo's Serbs and Albanians "offeringsubstantive autonomy to enable Kosovo to develop its future without violatingthe UN charter".

EUmembership

FatmirSejdiu, the Kosovo president, said that Ahtisaari had produced "a fair andvery balanced package" and said he regretted that no agreement with KosovoSerbs had been possible.

"Webelieve that the only viable outcome of the Kosovo status process isindependence, subject to a period of international supervision," he said.

He saidKosovo's ultimate objective was full membership of the European Union and Nato.

Ahtisaarialso rejected suggestions that he would be asked to terminate his mission andsaid he remained available to Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, and to theSecurity Council.

Theformer Finnish president also said that "tinkering with some of theelements in the proposals I made" would make it impossible to implementthe plan.

Kosovo isthe last big dispute remaining since the break-up of Yugoslavia inthe 1990s.

Theprovince has been under UN administration since 1999, after Nato launchedbombing raids it said were to stop Serb forces from driving out the province'sethnic Albanians, who are 90 per cent of the population.