Gelbard met two senior members of the UCK political directorate for more than four hours on Friday, officials said, without giving names or a location of the meeting. Gelbard informed Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova of the meeting in advance, the anonymous US officials told the paper.The rebels recognise ``that for now, at least, they need to support (Rugova's) leadership to try to provide a common negotiating position,'' a senior US official told the Times.

Rugova, during a series of recent meetings with Western political leaders, promised to bring the UCK ``under control''. Top US officials however recognise that a lasting peace canbe obtained only with UCK participation.