The declaration seems to have intensified the struggle of minority Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia to seize territory or demand local autonomy.

Without context, the rage of Kosovo's minority Serbs seems entirely arbitrary; even with the context of the long historical conflict, it still shocks.

The minority Serbs and Montenegrins have accused them of failing to provide adequate protection to minority groups in Kosovo, a province within Serbia.

The aim is not only to give the ethnic Albanians control over their lives, but also to afford protection to the minority Serbs.

They form 90 percent of the population in Kosovo, they want out of Yugoslavia and live under the threat of annihilation by the minority Serbs.

That its minority Serbs would worry about their position in a state separate from Yugoslavia was not surprising.

The United Nations is considering whether relations between the ethnic Albanians and the minority Serbs have improved sufficiently for the talks to take place.

The minority Serbs, most of whom are Christian, say they are being harassed.

Debilitating ethnic tensions remain high, with the majority ethnic Albanians doing little to reassure minority Serbs, the report said.

The burden on peacekeepers will be to protect minority Serbs and to uphold a pretense of their sovereignty.