BELGRADE, May 11 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Thursday in Kosovo that NATO-led peacekeeping forces would provide security guarantee for the future status talks for the southern Serbian province, said reports reaching here from Pristina.

    Scheffer, who headed a delegation of the NATO Council in a one-day visit to Kosovo, said that the international community would support the status talks while Kosovo's Albanian majority and the Serbian government should make compromises to reach an agreement.

    With UN-led talks on Kosovo's future status currently under way,Scheffer said that 17,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping forces would deal with any attempts to stir up violence in Kosovo.

    Legally still part of Serbia-Montenegro, Kosovo has been under the UN administration since the end of the Kosovo war in mid-1999.The Kosovo Albanians, accounting for some 90 per cent of the province's 2 million population, favor independence from Serbia.

    During their visit to Pristina, Scheffer and other NATO officials met with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, Prime Minister Agim Ceku, local officials and UN mission chief Soren Jessen-Petersen. Enditem