Serbia's foreign minister said yesterday that Belgrade should insist on its right to keep Kosovo, despite a UN plan outlining supervised statehood for the province.

Vuk Draskovic said in an interview on B92 Television that Serbia should lodge complaints with the United Nations to demand changes to the proposal drafted by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

Ahtisaari on Friday unveiled his plan for the future status of Kosovo, envisaging internationally monitored self-rule with the right to a constitution, national symbols such as a flag and membership in international organizations.

Serbian leaders rejected the idea, saying it paves the way for the independence of the southern province which is Serbia's historic heartland.

President Boris Tadic, who rejected the plan, has called a meeting of top political leaders for today to plot a strategy for Kosovo and determine Serbia's future moves in the wake of the Ahtisaari plan.

The prospects of Kosovo gaining independence has fueled nationalism in the country, although Serbia has had no authority over the region since a crackdown against the ethnic Albanian separatists in the late 1990s triggered NATO air strikes, turning Kosovo into a UN protectorate.

Draskovic said Serbia should push for changes in the UN draft to say that "implementation of this plan cannot change the existing borders in the Balkans."

Serbia has suggested Kosovo be granted full autonomy from Belgrade's rule, but not internationally recognized independence. But ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the province's 2 million population, say they will agree to nothing less than full sovereignty.

Source: China Daily/Agencies