Landing the Big One

Landing the Big One

Friday, December 03, 2004

Kosovo: It just gets better and better

BBC reports the new Kosovo Prime Minister is a former KLA commander and a "controverial figure."

Since he was just questioned by investigators for the International War Crime Tribunal, there may be some fire with that smoke. Mr Haradinaj's party is the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, described as "an offshoot of the political successor to the KLA."
Mr Haradinaj is facing a difficult task.
He's got six months to prepare for a planned UN review that will establish how far Kosovo has gone along the road of meeting the required standards of democracy, rule of law and minority protection before talks can begin on Kosovo's long-term status.

It's the fervent hope of Kosovo's Albanians that they will get a positive assessment because they are hoping that subsequent talks will lead to Kosovo's independence.

Meanwhile, Mr Haradinaj's job is being complicated by the fact that the Serb minority overwhelmingly boycotted the October elections - and most of the Serb representatives elected at the time are now boycotting the assembly.


The KLA and it successors want full independence from Serbia. They are ruthless in their efforts to drive the remaining Kosovar Serbs from Kosovo. As I have noted before there are about 28,000 people whose job it is to maintain order in Kosovo, including NATO forces and UN police. Electing a guy from the KLA who is being talked to by investigators is not going to make their jobs any easier.

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