Rugova says he will meet KLA leaders soon

MADRID, June 7 (Reuters)

Moderate Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova said on Monday he would soon meet leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army and they all shared the goal of independence for the war-shattered province. During a visit to Madrid to consult Spanish government officials, Rugova denied a rift with the KLA leadership and said he was ready to work together even with "extremists" to rebuild Kosovo. Rugova and KLA chief Hashim Thaqi have come under pressure from the West to overcome their divisions in preparation for the return of hundreds of thousands ethnic Albanians driven from their Kosovo homes in a purge by Serb forces.

"We must come together," Rugova said at a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. "A meeting is being prepared with all of Kosovo's political representatives and also with the KLA." The comments by Rugova, an advocate of non-violence who has been the West's favoured Kosovo Albanian leader, came less than two weeks after KLA leaders apparently snubbed him by failing to meet him for planned talks in Paris.

The differences between Rugova and Thaqi were said to be rooted in what his KLA rivals see as his failure to win autonomy for Kosovo with a campaign of passive resistance to Serbian rule over a decade until 1998. The estrangement deepened after Rugova had talks with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic after NATO launched air raids against Serb targets in late March and Serb forces responded with a campaign of terror against ethnic Albanians. Rugova said he shared the KLA's goal of an independent Kosovo. He stressed that they had to live up to a peace plan signed in France in February which would give Kosovo broad autonomy but required a three-year transition period before any move towards self-determination. "We are all in favour of independence for Kosovo," Rugova said. "There are no difference over that." REUTERS 1316 070699 GMT