Belgrade, Nov 25, SPA -- Face-to-face talks between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders are likely to begin early next year, the United Nations mediator for the province's future status said on Friday. Martti Ahtisaari was speaking four days after launching his mission, having held separate talks with both sides to try to reconcile their widely differing positions, Reuters reported. Kosovo Albanians, who form 90 percent of the territory's population, want independence while Serbia insists the province should be under its sovereignty. Direct talks between Serbia and Kosovo Albanians early in the new year would be an indication Ahtisaari intends to waste no time in his open-ended mission, but he could not predict how long it would take to reach any accord. "It is perhaps realistic to assume ... hopefully in the beginning of the new year we can get the parties together," Ahtisaari told reporters. "We are now talking about talks that are not entirely technical like those of working groups". The United Nations took control of Kosovo in 1999 when 78 days of NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of atrocities against civilians while fighting a two-year guerrilla war. --More 2332 Local Time 2032 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/305433