Kosovo independence by Feb 17, Serbia in crisis

By Shaban Buza and Douglas Hamilton

PRISTINA/BELGRADE, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Kosovo is expected to declare its independence from Serbia by next Sunday, inviting the European Union to send in a planned supervisory mission and NATO to stay on at the head of a peacekeeping force.

"It will all be done by Sunday," a senior political source told Reuters. He denied speculation that it would be a two-stage process, with a statement of intent next weekend and an actual declaration in March.

Kosovo hopes for quick recognition from the United States and from the EU, whose foreign ministers meet on Feb 18.

But Kosovo's minority Serbs plan a virtual secession of their own, with proposals to establish an "assembly" next Saturday in the Serb-dominated Mitrovica region of Kosovo's north, the Kosovo Albanian daily Zeri reported.

Zeri said the assembly was part of a Serb scheme to "create a separate political and territorial entity with special links to Serbia".

Serbia recently opened a government office to oversee public services in Mitrovica , saying it would "intensify" Belgrade's parallel network of services for Serbs. The United Nations, which has administered Kosovo since Serb forces were expelled by NATO in 1999, called it a "provocative act".

"Everything must be done for (Kosovo) Serbs to remain on their land and to live safely as citizens of Serbia after an eventual unilateral declaration of independence," Serbia's Ministry for Kosovo said in a statement on Friday.

Analysts say Serbia, if it can't keep Kosovo, wants to partition the territory, keeping control of the north, where it already provides health, education and administrative services for Serbs.

Kosovo's independence move was delayed three times in the past year, in deference to Serb-ally Russia's insistence on continuing talks in search of an elusive compromise, and because of its explosive impact on Serbian politics.



PRELUDE TO CHAOS

Despite two elections -- one general, one presidential --, Serbia is still deeply split. Nationalists are determined to halt talks on closer ties with the EU if it goes ahead with recognition. Pro-Western parties say the bid for EU membership must be the country's priority.

The ruling coalition is on the verge of collapse.

Parliament speaker Oliver Dulic told the daily Vecernje Novosti on Sunday that an early parliamentary election was one of the options to resolve the crisis, which will be discussed by pro-EU President Boris Tadic and nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica later this week.

"That will be a key meeting designed to stabilise the political situation in Serbia and will answer whether this coalition can function in the future," said Dulic.

If Kostunica kept turning to hardline nationalist opposition parties to support his unbending position on Kosovo, the coalition would fall, Dulic added.

Labour Minister Rasim Ljajic said everything in Serbia "had ground to a halt", adding: "This is a prelude to chaos."

In Kosovo, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci went to the country on Sunday to deliver a new tractor to a Serb family and promise "much better days to come" after independence.

"We are closing the chapter of the past... Kosovo is our joint fatherland," he told the Slavkovic family.

On a visit to Rubovce village last week, the family told the 39-year-old former guerrilla fighter he was "younger than our tractor".

(additional reporting by Gordana Filipovic, Ellie Tzortzi)