US President George W. Bush said that the people of Kosovo are independent though he stopped short of formal recognition of the territory's independence.

Formal US recognition of the territory's independence would normally come from the US State Department. That department was expected to issue a statement on Kosovo later today but it was not clear if it would include a formal recognition of Kosovo's independence.

"We'll watch to see how the events unfold today," Bush said in a live interview aired on NBC television from Arusha, Tanzania. "The Kosovars are now independent. It's something I've advocated along with my government."

The breakaway majority Albanian territory declared independence from Serbia yesterday. Most of the European Union's 27 members and the United States say they are ready to recognize Kosovo, though Spain said on Monday it had made up its mind not to do so.

The United States says it is important to bring some conclusion to the status of Kosovo. Washington says Serbia relinquished the moral right to rule its people because of the brutality it used against them under the late Slobodan Milosevic, and because lengthy talks over the issue produced no compromise.

But Serbia and Russia strongly oppose the region's independence.

The province has been under United Nations supervision since 1999, when NATO bombing forced a withdrawal of Serb forces that had been attacking Albanians there. There are now some 17,000 NATO-led troops in Kosovo.