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Diplomats discussing Kosovo's future
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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Former Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milosevic's death on Saturday comes amid diplomatic efforts to determine the future of Kosovo, the disputed region of Serbia dominated by Albanians. The United Nations has administered Kosovo since NATO forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid grave human rights abuses in the fighting between Serbs and Albanians. Last year, the international community finally agreed to begin negotiations on independence for Kosovo. Many of the 66 war crimes counts against Milosevic involved his leadership of Yugoslavia, whose Serb-led forces battled Kosovar Albanians. Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo outnumber other ethnic groups, mainly Serbs, by about 9 to 1. The region is dear to the Serbs -- Orthodox Christians who regard it as Serbian territory -- but it is equally coveted by Albanians -- Muslims who now hold the majority. Serbia, a republic in Yugoslavia, took away Kosovo's regional autonomy in 1989. Kosovar secessionists proclaimed an independent republic and Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla attacks caused a Serbian counter-offensive in 1997. The United States and NATO allies were fearful that Serbs who dominated Yugoslavia would pursue "ethnic cleansing" as they had in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 and tried to pressure the Yugoslav government to stop. Milosevic refused and NATO launched a 78-day air war in 1999 until the Yugoslavian president gave up. Since then, Kosovo has been autonomous, under U.N. administration. Direct talks began this year on the status of Kosovo. "The decentralization talks held in Vienna were a good start, and I urged the leaders I met in Belgrade [Serbia] and Pristina [Kosovo] to remain continuously engaged," a U.N. official said in Vienna, Austria, according to a U.N. news release. Martti Ahtisaari, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy to Kosovo, also asked Serbian leaders to urge Kosovo Serb leaders "to participate in the province's institutions." "If you people don't participate, it will be very difficult for any administration to create conditions where people can live together," he was quoted as saying. Among the options for Kosovo are independence and autonomy, something Serbia rejects, the statement says. Kosovo's Serbs have been boycotting the province's provisional institutions. The first round of direct negotiations between delegations from Albanian-majority Kosovo and Serbia on Kosovo's future status last month "found common ground on the issue of decentralization of services," the United Nations said. Delegates discussed "health care, education, culture, social welfare, police and justice, provisions on which will have to be incorporated into any resolution on Kosovo's future status." Both parties decided to meet Friday "to continue the discussion of decentralization, including such matters as local finance, inter-municipal cooperation and links between Kosovo municipalities and municipalities in Serbia as well as with Belgrade," the United Nations said. 
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