The United Nations security council has opened a discussion that is almost certain to lead to conditional independence for the Serbian province of Kosovo.
The province has been run by the UN since Serbian forces were forced out by Nato in 1999. Serbia objects to Kosovan independence but, in reality, will be unable to stop it.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, announced yesterday he is to appoint Marko Ahtisaari, the former Finnish prime minister, as his special envoy on "final status" talks.
Vojislav Kostunica, the Serbian prime minister, who spoke at the security council yesterday, offered the UN wider autonomy for Kosovo but insisted that the province remain part of Serbia. Before leaving Belgrade for the debate in New York, he said: "It is an unthinkable precedent and any imposed solution that would seize part of our territory would be a violation of international law."
Nato intervened in Kosovo after Serbian forces and militia engaged in ethnic cleansing of Kosovan Albanians. Since the war, the Kosovan Albanians, who make up 90% of the population, have been trying to force out the Kosovan Serbs.
The next step, probably next year, will be to agree conditional independence, placing the onus on the Kosovans to maintain a multi-ethnic society, one in which Albanian Kosovans recognise the rights of Serbian Kosovans rather than trying to force them out.
In an interview with Reuters, Bajram Kosumi, the Kosovan prime minister, said there should be no conditions placed on independence.