Kostunica tells Serbia Kosovo can't be held

By Douglas Hamilton

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told Serbs for the first time on Thursday the imminent loss of their historic province of Kosovo was a reality, but in a televised address he vowed the nation would never accept it.

Kostunica's statement was his most open acknowledgment yet that Serbia cannot prevent Kosovo's Albanian majority from proclaiming independence on Sunday, with the promise of Western recognition but without United Nations approval.

He said his coalition had adopted a document to pre-emptively annul "an event which will become reality in a few days, about illegal violence and an act of declaring independence of Kosovo".

"This decision confirms full national unity," Kostunica said, adding that what was about to happen was "a gross violation of international law".

Serbia's state news agency Tanjug, in the first concrete report of diplomatic reprisals, said Serbia's ambassadors to France, Germany and Britain would leave in protest after they recognise Kosovo on Monday.

"Serbia has the right ... and Serbia will continue, through a series of concrete steps, to ... prove that Kosovo is part of Serbia," Kostunica told a news conference.

Radical Party deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic called on Kostunica and President Boris Tadic to organise a major protest rally against Kosovo's independence in the capital next week.

"If Sunday is a day of declaration of Kosovo's independence, the rally has to be held next week," Nikolic said.