March 27, 2007 11:32 AM

BRUSSELS, Belgium-NATO has overcome differences within the alliance and now unanimously supports a U.N. plan that would give Kosovo supervised independence from Serbia, NATO's Secretary General said Tuesday.

U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan for the future of Kosovo was presented to the U.N. Security Council on Monday. In an introductory report, he said "the only viable option for Kosovo is independence, to be supervised for an initial period by the international community."

In the past, NATO had stressed support for the U.N. "process" in finding a solution for Kosovo, rather than for the content of the plan itself. That caution reflected concern among some European allies such as Spain and Greece over the province gaining full independence.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Tuesday there were no longer any differences within the alliance.

"All the allies agree that this is an issue that is fundamental for European security," he told reporters after a special meeting of senior officials from the 26 NATO allies. "There was a clear and strong sense of unity around the table."

Serbia, which wants the province to remain within its borders, had called the plan unacceptable and held out hope for more negotiations. The U.N. Security Council will make a final decision, but is split. Russia supports Serbia and has implied it could use its veto power if Belgrade's interests are not addressed.

Diplomats at the United Nations said the council would likely have its first formal discussion of the report on April 3. De Hoop Scheffer said he hoped the Security Council would be able to resolve the question within a few weeks or months.

"There is no need for a rush to this through the Security Council, but on the other hand there should be no unnecessary delay," he said.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of province's 2 million people, are pressing for full independence, which is resisted by the minority Serbs.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO airstrikes ended a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

De Hoop Scheffer warned either side against resorting to violence to solve the problem, insisting that NATO's 16,000 peacekeepers were ready to handle any unrest.