The Kosovo Albanian leader, Mr Ibrahim Rugova, and the Yugoslav President, Mr Slobodan Milosevic, are to meet in Belgrade tomorrow in the first serious effort to open negotiations to end the developing war in the area.
The breakthrough was announced yesterday by the United States special envoy, Mr Richard Holbrooke, for whom it is a diplomatic and personal triumph after four days of shuttling between Belgrade and Kosovo. Mr Holbrooke recently failed to move the two sides in the Cyprus dispute.
Mr Rugova, who was elected the unofficial "President of Kosovo" in a poll among Albanians which Belgrade refused to recognise, has never met the Yugoslav leader. Their talks are to be followed by a series of meetings between their delegations in Pristina "at least once a week", Mr Holbrooke said.
The start of a dialogue is a victory for Mr Milosevic, since he moves back into the centre of the diplomatic stage and has avoided conceding the West's demands for international mediation, at least at this stage.
Mr Robert Gelbard, the US permanent envoy to the Balkans, said yesterday Washington continues to support the idea that Mr Felipe Gonzalez, the former Spanish prime minister, should handle the problem of Yugoslavia's entry into international bodies, such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Since the main condition for entering the OSCE and having international sanctions lifted is a solution in Kosovo, Mr Gonzalez would have an indirect role in discussing Kosovo, and could become a mediator if the talks stall.
The main stumbling block remains independence for Kosovo, which Mr Milosevic rejects.
Mr Holbrooke, whose strong-arm diplomacy produced the Dayton accord on Bosnia, argues that Kosovo is different. "Ethnic differences there were manufactured in recent times by demagogues and crooks. Here in Kosovo there is a real ethnic issue," he said.
"Both major ethnic groups, the Serbs and the Albanians, have undeniably ancient roots in the same soil without a tradition of living together. The second reason they are different is juridical. Once the old Yugoslavia began to break up [in 1991-1992] the world agreed to recognise the independence and sovereignty of each republic. Kosovo does not have that status. That is why the international community feels Kosovo's independence would trigger a wider war."