Serbs and Kosovo Albanians sat down at the same table in Vienna Monday for the first round of talks on the fate of Serbia's disputed southern province, with the Albanians confident of winning independence.

"Today we are focused on the agenda and looking forward to the results," Kosovo Albanian delegation chief Lutfi Haziri told reporters. "We want the status resolved as soon as possible. Independence is coming and we are playing a positive role."

Diplomats say independence is almost certain, closing a chapter on one of Europe's most pressing diplomatic conundrums.

The two eight-member delegations of mid-level politicians and advisers sat at a horseshoe-shaped table in the imposing 18th century Palais Daun-Kinsky under the chairmanship of Austria's Albert Rohan, deputy to United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari.

Former Finnish President Ahtisaari held separate breakfast meetings with each side prior to the start of negotiations, due to run into today. The sitting delegations posed stony-faced for photographers. There were no handshakes.

The encounter, delayed a month by the death of President Ibrahim Rugova, is the first since Ahtisaari was appointed in November to broker a deal on the territory, sacred to Serbs but 90-per cent populated by Albanians who demand independence.

The province of 2 million people has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of atrocities against ethnic Albanian civilians in a 2-year war with separatist rebels.

Status of Kosovo Serbs a key issue

Trying to break the ice, the meeting will skirt the hot issue of status and focus on how to devolve power to the 100,000 remaining Serbs, ghettoized and targeted for revenge since 1999. Western diplomats have stressed independence hinges on Albanians offering Kosovo's minorities a viable future.

"The majority population here in Kosovo has a right to expect that their aspirations will be met when status is decided," Kosovo's UN governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said on Sunday. "But it is equally important that the majority is seen to be committed ... on minority issues."

British analyst and author Tim Judah told Belgrade's Danas daily Monday that "it is now completely clear the talks are not about the status of Kosovo, but about the status of the Kosovo Serbs."

Serbia wants the creation of an autonomous Serb entity with strong ties to Belgrade. Albanians say this is code for ethnic partition, a concept ruled out by the West. Pristina is offering more modest devolution.

The Contact Group of major powers setting policy on Kosovo wants a deal on "final status" within the year.
 
Belgrade insists independence is unthinkable. Rich in Orthodox religious heritage, Kosovo holds almost mythic status for Serbs, central to their identity for 1,000 years. But self-governing since 1999, Albanians say independence is non-negotiable.

The Contact Group has urged Belgrade "to bear in mind that the settlement needs to be acceptable to the people of Kosovo."

Western diplomats say this means independence, conditional on major concessions to Serbs and guaranteed by an EU-led supervisory body and extended NATO peacekeeping mandate.

Analysts warn of a nationalist backlash in Serbia, which also faces divorce from Montenegro when the tiny Adriatic republic holds a promised referendum due in April on dissolving their lop-sided union - the last remnant of Yugoslavia.

(China Daily February 21, 2006)