PRISTINA, Yugoslavia International officials tried Saturday to jump-start political negotiations between Serb leaders and Kosovo's secessionist Albanians by working to solidify the divided Albanian camp. French and Austrian diplomats led a group of international officials to the provincial capital Saturday for talks with ethnic Albanian leaders in an attempt to bring together the Kosovo Liberation Army and the more moderate followers of Ibrahim Rugova. ``We're here to convey a unified contact group message to Kosovo Albanians ... to explore possibilities of unifying Kosovo Albanian factions in order to enter a new phase of negotiations,'' said Jan Kickert, spokesman for Austria's ambassador to Belgrade, Wolfgang Petritsch. Petritsch, along with French ambassador to Macedonia Jacques Huntzinger, met first with Fehmi Agani, the head of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian negotiating team to discuss prospects for solving the province's conflict through negotiations.

Representatives of the six-member international Contact Group - including Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and Russia - also attended the talks. Agani represents Rugova's camp, which has said it will accept broad autonomy within Serbia, while the KLA is determined to fight for full independence. (AP)