The Vienna talks are only meant to look at practical issues

Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi said he would not travel to Vienna for the UN-brokered talks due to start on Tuesday because it was "not yet the time".

Other Kosovo officials are due to attend the first post-war meeting along with the leaders of Serbia and Montenegro.

The UN has controlled Kosovo since Nato forced Serbian forces to withdraw in 1999.

"The Kosovo delegation will be represented by President (Ibrahim) Rugova, who is a symbol of the multi-ethnic unity of Kosovo," said Harri Holkeri, the senior UN official in the province.

But observers suggest the meeting will carry little weight without the presence of Mr Rexhepi.

You have to break the ice somewhere Western official quoted by Reuters

The meeting is not to due to address the central issue - the demand of Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians for de jure independence - but is slated to cover practical issues such as power shortages and car number plates which are not recognised in Serbia.

The agenda is also set to cover emotive issues such as the fate of 3,700 people still missing in Kosovo, mostly ethnic Albanians, and the future of more than 100,000 mainly ethnic Serbs who fled after troops withdrew.

Attacks on the province's remaining ethnic Serbs have continued, with seven people killed over this summer alone.

Breaking the ice

Mr Rexhepi announced his decision to boycott the Vienna meeting a few days after the Kosovo parliament failed to endorse it.

It will be our decision as to where and what to talk about Bajram Rexhepi Kosovo prime minister

He had been invited to it along with other Kosovo Albanian and Serbian leaders by Harri Holkeri, the UN administrator official in the province.

"Today I had to make a difficult decision," said Mr Rexhepi on Sunday.

"I will not go to the Vienna meeting... It is not yet the time. It will be our decision as to where and what to talk about. This decision cannot be made by someone else."

Serbia and Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic and Serbian Deputy Premier Nebojsa Covic are all due to attend the Vienna talks.

One Western official in Kosovo told Reuters that even without the Kosovo premier the talks would have a purpose.