Serbian government dissolved

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's coalition government, torn bydivision over the loss of Kosovo, was formally dissolved onMonday, opening the way for an early parliamentary election.

The decision was taken at a brief cabinet session followingPrime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Saturday announcement thatthe government could not stay in office owing to disunity overthe conflicting goals of defending Kosovo and joining theEuropean Union.

"The government did not have a united and common policy anymore," a statement said, "and this kept it from performing itsbasic constitutional function, to define and lead Serbia'spolitics."

President Boris Tadic must now disband parliament and set adate for the election, probably on May 11. It will be the mostimportant election since voters ended the era of the lateautocrat Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

The vote will be a close race between the Democrats and thenationalist Radicals, the strongest party.

Kostunica, whose party lies a distant third, quit aftertacitly accusing his coalition partners, the Democrats and theG17 Plus party, of giving up on Kosovo, the 90-percent ethnicAlbanian province which seceded last month with Westernbacking.

Not all of the 27 EU members have recognised Kosovo, butBrussels is deploying a supervisory mission that will monitorthe territory's progress as an independent state.

Tadic, also the head of the Democrats, said on Sunday thatattempts to divide Serbs into patriots and traitors over Kosovowould backfire at the polls. A strong and stable Serbia wouldbe in a better position to defend its interests, he added.

"If we join the EU, then we can make sure that this outlawstate (Kosovo) never becomes an EU member," he said on a TVtalk show.

SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS KOSOVO

At U.N. headquarters in New York, Russian ambassador to theUnited Nations, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters that SerbianForeign Minister Vuk Jeremic would address an open session ofthe Security Council on Kosovo on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. (7 p.m.British time).

The 15-nation council has been deadlocked for months on thesituation in Kosovo due to sharp disagreements between Serbia'sally Russia and fellow permanent council members Britain,France and the United States, which support Pristina.

"We see that things are very wrong (in Kosovo) in a numberof respects in terms of the actual situation on the ground, thevery difficult relationship between the Serbs in Kosovo and theAlbanians in Kosovo," Churkin said.

Western diplomats said another meeting on Kosovo wouldchange nothing but they were happy to oblige Moscow andBelgrade.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose countryholds the EU's rotating presidency, said he hoped for a victoryfor pro-European parties in Serbia's upcoming election.

"To be quite frank, I don't think there is any otherpossibility for our Serbian friends than the European Union.Where should they go?" he said in Brussels on Monday.

Serbia spent almost five months in limbo under a caretakergovernment in 2007, also under Kostunica, until he and theDemocrats hammered out a policy they could both stand by.

Their deep differences meant the government worked in fitsand starts, between compromise and crisis, moving slowly onreforms and ending up last in the Balkan queue of EU hopefuls.

Polls indicate the election could produce a hung parliamentand a coalition deal might need long negotiations.

Such a delay could stall urgent legislation and the arrestof war crime suspects -- a key condition for EU membership. ButKostunica's officials say the caretaker government will stayfirm in its total opposition to independent Kosovo.

"Serbs and other loyal citizens in Kosovo shouldn't worry,"said Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic.

Belgrade is instructing Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs tosever ties with Kosovo's government and ignore a new EUmission. The Serb-dominated north is a flashpoint for any movetowards a de facto partition.

The EU urged the U.N. mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to step upsecurity along the border with Serbia amid fears of such apartition.

EU diplomats said the bloc would call on Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon to ensure UNMIK did not slacken in its securityduties. U.N. officials said Ban had not received any EU call.

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, who has warned Belgradeagainst trying to carve off part of the territory, said onSunday Kosovo had contributed to Serbia's democratisation.

"In 1999, when we pushed the police, army andadministration out of Kosovo, Milosevic's fall from powerstarted," he said at a border crossing where he unveiled a'Welcome to Kosovo' sign.

"Now, with Kosovo's independence, Kostunica has fallen, thementality of the past has fallen in Serbia."

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at the UnitedNations and Mark John in Brussels; editing by Mohammad Zargham)