BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia threw down

the gauntlet over its troubled Kosovo

province Sunday with an offer to host direct,

internationally-monitored negotiations with

the ethnic Albanian majority.

A Serb source said the offer for talks in

Kosovo Wednesday showed Belgrade was

keen to seek a peaceful solution for the

region, where a month-old truce has been

rocked by clashes between Serbian forces

and ethnic Albanian guerrillas.

But the proposal by Serbian President Milan

Milutinovic did not appear to have been

coordinated either with leaders of the ethnic

Albanians who make up 90 percent of

Kosovo's population or the western

mediators trying to broker a lasting

settlement.

``President Milutinovic assessed that all

conditions have been met for a direct

meeting and talks on finding a political

solution for problems in Kosovo,'' said a

statement from Milutinovic's office carried

by Tanjug news agency.

``Because of the importance and essence

of the talks the president will personally

chair the meeting and he has decided to

invite as guests ambassador Christopher

Hill, special U.S. representative for

Yugoslavia, the ambassadors of the

Russian Federation and of China as well as

the Ambassador of Austria as the Chairman

of the European Union,'' Tanjug said.

A spokesman for Hill said both he and

Austrian Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch,

who represents the European Union, would

be in Vienna on the day of the proposed

talks.

Leading members of the ethnic Albanian

negotiating team were not expected back

from a trip abroad until late Sunday and a

spokesman for Ibrahim Rugova, the

de-facto leader of the ethnic Albanians, said

he had not yet received an invitation.

``I doubt that direct talks will start

Wednesday,'' Veton Surroi, the

editor-in-chief of Kosovo's main

Albanian-language daily Koha Ditore, told

Reuters.

``For now it looks as if the Serb side is just

trying to portray itself as a cooperative

partner in negotiations.''

The Serb source, close to the current

internationally-mediated negotiations, made

clear Belgrade was unhappy with the shuttle

diplomacy led by Hill, who has drawn up a

draft peace proposal which would give

self-rule to Kosovo.

``Many things, including the latest Hill

proposal, are against us, but we want to

talk. It's better to talk than to fight,'' said the

source, who declined to be named.

``I hope that the international community will

eventually realize who is for war and who is

for peace, if the Albanians do not show up,''

the source said.

Serbia has previously offered talks on

Kosovo, but ethnic Albanian leaders have

refused, saying Belgrade must first

withdraw its forces, whose campaign

against the guerrillas drove more than a

quarter of a million people from their homes.

Belgrade scaled back its forces in Kosovo

last month under a deal agreed between

U.S. Balkans envoy Richard Holbrooke and

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic

after NATO threatened air strikes.

Since then Hill has been shuttling between

Kosovo and Belgrade trying to broker a

political settlement and secure the shaky

cease-fire, which is being monitored by a

group of unarmed international observers.

Hill's draft proposals have won qualified

approval from some of Kosovo's divided

ethnic Albanian leaders, but have been

criticized by others, who say they do not

offer sufficient guarantees for genuine

self-rule, let alone independence.

The international community has ruled out

independence for Kosovo, fearing it would

destabilize neighboring countries in the

volatile Balkans, but Belgrade fears a vague

political deal could let in independence

through the back door.

Reut09:48 11-15-98