PRISTINA, Serbia, May 10 (Reuters) - The U.N. mediator on Kosovo has tipped Dutch diplomat Peter Feith to oversee the Serbian province's potential first months as an independent state, local media reported on Thursday. "He is the ideal person," the Kosovo daily Zeri quoted envoy Martti Ahtisaari as saying. "He has NATO experience and EU experience." The former Finnish president noted that Feith had already worked on peace pacts with ethnic Albanians in Serbia and Macedonia in 2001 and led the EU mission monitoring a 2005 peace deal brokered by Ahtisaari in Indonesia's Aceh province. The United States and major EU powers are working on a U.N. resolution based on a blueprint drafted by Ahtisaari that would give the Albanian majority province independence under an open-ended period of international supervision. Despite continued opposition from Serbian ally Russia, the West hopes for a resolution this month or next. It would end eight years of U.N. administration since NATO bombs drove out Serb forces to stop the slaughter of Albanian civilians in a two-year counter-insurgency war. Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are Albanians. Under Ahtisaari's blueprint, Kosovo would be supervised by an International Civilian Representative (ICR), a European official appointed by a steering group comprising the major Western powers, Russia, the European Union and NATO. The ICR would also take responsibility for a 1,800-strong EU police and justice mission, designed to safeguard the rights and security of the 100,000 remaining Serbs. As overseer, Feith would have the power to veto legislation and fire officials deemed to be breaking the terms of the settlement, a role analysts say is modelled on the all-powerful peace envoy in postwar Bosnia. As NATO envoy, Feith was involved in diplomacy to end ethnic Albanian insurgencies in 2001 in Macedonia and the southern Serbian Presevo Valley, both bordering Kosovo. NATO says it will keep peacekeeping levels unchanged at around 16,500 soldiers for at least six months after a U.N. resolution is adopted.
