By BBC Berlin Correspondent Caroline Wyatt

Germany's Green Party is holding a special conference on Thursday which could bring down the coalition government - just eight months after the Greens took office for the first time as junior partners of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Social Democrats.

The crisis in Kosovo has split the Greens in two. Pacifists on the far-left of the party believe Germany's participation in Nato air strikes is wrong and must stop immediately.

The BBC's Terry Stiastny: "Protests against the German Green Party's support of Kosovan war"

On the other side are the Green realists, who support the government's position and are determined to back their leader, German's Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer.

He has reportedly threatened to resign if the pacifists push through a motion demanding a unilateral, indefinite and unconditional Nato ceasefire - a move which could bring down Germany's governing coalition.

The party leadership has proposed an alternative resolution which would call for a temporary ceasefire to allow for new negotiations on Kosovo.

If passed, that compromise would allow the Greens to continue in government.