US and southeastern European defense ministers discussed on Tuesday a reorganization of a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

Defense officials of Southeastern Europe Defense Ministerial (SEDM) nations held its 10th meeting here which took up a range of security issues, including border security, the future status of Kosovo and NATO deployment in Afghanistan.

The officials were briefed on NATO plans to restructure the 17,000-member peacekeeping force in Kosovo, a province of Serbia that has been run by the United Nations after the 1998-99 war between Serbia and NATO.

"It is very clear to the military commanders at this time that the force needs to be reorganized so that they have greater flexibility and agility and can be more efficient," US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

The question of independence for Kosovo, which ignited a bloody conflict in 1998 between Serbia's ethnic slav majority and the ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo, was reopened at the meeting.

Albania's Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu said his country had no interest in annexing Kosovo and Kosovo did not want to become part of Albania either.

Martti Ahtisaari, the UN's special envoy for Kosovo, has begun talks with Belgrade and Pristina on the future status of Kosovo.

The ministers agreed at the SEDM meeting on a six-month deployment of about 450 troops to Afghanistan next year.

Also at the meeting, Ukraine was admitted as a member of SEDM, a defense cooperation group established in 1995.

The SEDM now has 11 members -- Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, the United States and Ukraine.

"It's an important event for Ukraine because we were looking for the membership for years," Ukraine's Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko said.

After Ukraine became a member of SEDM, Kiev "will consider real input" of troops to join its partners to "provide peace and security in those regions where it will be vital for the member states," he said.

Source: Xinhua