KOSOVO:The US, EU and Russia will allow partition to break the impasse, writes Daniel McLaughlin.
The United States, the European Union and Russia will allow Kosovo to be divided to resolve its bid for independence from Serbia, reversing a long-held position that the region must not be split up along ethnic lines.
Frustrated by the lack of common ground between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders, who demand full sovereignty, and a Belgrade that refuses to countenance anything more than broad autonomy for the province, a "troika" of envoys representing Washington, Brussels and Moscow have said all options - including partition - are on the table.
"It is the principle of the troika to be prepared to endorse any agreement both parties manage to achieve," said EU negotiator Wolfgang Ischinger.
"That includes all options. If they want to pursue any options, that is fine with us." Asked if that included partitioning the territory, which is home to about 1.8 million Albanians and 100,000 Serbs, Mr Ischinger replied: "If they want. We are urging both sides to think outside the box," he added.
"If both sides repeat their classic positions, there is little hope for compromise or bridge-building." Kosovo's leaders support a plan for independence supervised by the EU, as drawn up by United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari, which would allow Serb enclaves in the region to enjoy a degree of autonomy and retain strong links, including financially, with Belgrade.
Serbian officials have bitterly denounced the West for trying to "steal" Kosovo and turn it into a "Nato state", however, and Moscow has pledged to veto any UN resolution on Kosovo that is not acceptable to Belgrade.
The diplomatic troika is brokering what Washington and Brussels say will be a final 120-day period of talks on Kosovo, after which the negotiators will report back to the UN on any progress that has been made.
Kosovo's prime minister, Agim Ceku, says the talks are pointless and that, after 120 days, he wants his region to be declared independent "within its actual borders". Serbia has also shown little public enthusiasm for partition.
"Any partition of Kosovo is out of question. It is a territory of Serbia - why should we divide our own territory?" said Branislav Ristivojevic, a spokesman for the party of prime minister Vojislav Kostunica.
"We won't give up Kosovo, nor one inch of Serbian territory, for any kind of international integration process, whether it's Nato, the European Union or anything else." The possibility of partition has been discussed by Western powers who want to see changes in Kosovo after eight years as a UN protectorate, a status it was given following the Nato bombing that ended a brutal 1998-9 Serb onslaught against separatist rebels.
It has also been discussed in Belgrade and Pristina, despite the official denials.
"It has its ideologists," said Serb analyst Dusan Janjic. "There are supporters of the division idea even among the [ Serbian] president's entourage." Mr Janjic said the troika may be willing "to negotiate such a solution with Kosovo Albanians if Belgrade would be ready to recognise the independence" of the province.
An agreed partition of Kosovo could help it secure UN-approval for independence, and allow Serb leaders to claim a small victory by retaining control of part of the province.
Regardless of the formal solution of the independence issue, de facto partition of Kosovo is seen as extremely likely by many analysts.
If Kosovo declares sovereignty with or without a UN resolution, they argue, tens of thousands of the region's remaining Serbs will not dare to stay in their enclaves, but will head towards northern Kosovo, bordering Serbia proper, where 50,000 Serbs now live.
The heart of that region is Mitrovica, a decrepit industrial town in which the Ibar river divides the Albanian south and the Serbia north.
It has been a flashpoint for ethnic riots, and there is little contact or co-operation between the two sides of the town. Even relatively moderate Serb politicians in Mitrovica say northern Kosovo would immediately sever ties with the rest of the region if its leaders declared independence from Serbia, a reaction that could provoke a violent response from ethnic Albanians.
"A proclamation of independence will be a step towards division, as there is no chance for northern Kosovo to be integrated into the rest of the province," said former Serb foreign minister Goran Svilanovic.
Balkan-watchers warn that Kosovo's independence could also send shock waves across the region, particularly in the strongly-Albanian Presevo Valley in southern Serbia and in 25 per cent Albanian Macedonia, which teetered on the brink of civil war in 2001.