Serbs and Kosovans to meet

The first face-to-face talks between Serbia and Kosovo's leaders on the future of the province are to take place in Vienna on Monday (24 July).

Serbian President Boris Tadic and Kosovo's leaders will sit down to discuss the future status of Kosovo with international mediator Martti Ahtisaari.

Since talks began earlier this year they have skirted the questions of Kosovo's new relations with Serbia. Ahtisaari has so far employed a bottom-up approach, dealing with such issues as the delineation of municipalities and the protection of churches, which do not relate directly to Kosovo's final status.

But diplomats cautioned against a breakthrough on Monday. They expect Ahtisaari simply to listen to both sides as they lay out their positions.

Momentum is expected to build in September when the former Finnish president will report to the United Nations Security Council.

Negotiators aim to have a solution agreed by the end of the year and have warned that talks cannot go on interminably.

But this week Russian diplomats stressed that no "artificial deadlines" to finalise the talks should be imposed and insisted that Ahtisaari should not force a solution upon the two sides.

Some observers fear that the distance between the two sides makes a negotiated solution impossible.

The vast majority of the ethnic-Albanian dominated province supports independence from Serbia. But Belgrade is opposing it, and is calling for something more than autonomy but short of independence.

The first face-to-face talks between Serbia and Kosovo's leaders on the future of the province are to take place in Vienna on Monday (24 July).