Kosovo elects former rebel

2004-12-04 09:36

Pristina, Serbia-Montenegro - The Kosovo parliament on Friday elected former ethnic Albanian rebel commander Ramush Haradinaj as prime minister of the UN-run southern Serbian province, in a move certain to infuriate Belgrade.

Haradinaj was a senior commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrilla movement during the 1998-99 separatist war against Serbian forces, and has recently been questioned by UN war crimes investigators.

His nomination for prime minister by President Ibrahim Rugova following October parliamentary polls has been questioned by European officials, although he has not been charged with any crimes and denies all the allegations.

European Union foreign affairs chief Javier Solana has said a former rebel leader under investigation for war crimes might not be the "most appropriate" man to lead Kosovo, an independence-seeking mainly ethnic Albanian province.

But officials with the UN mission in Kosovo, established after a Nato air campaign ended a brutal Serbian crackdown in the province in 1999, have not objected to his nomination.

The ethnic Serb minority in Kosovo has accused Haradinaj, one of the most prominent figures in the separatist movement, of committing atrocities against Serb civilians while he was in charge of the KLA's western operations during the war.

His appointment as prime minister is certain to anger the Serbian government in Belgrade, which considers him a "terrorist".

It could also complicate preparations for further talks between Kosovo authorities and Serbian officials, after a tentative face-to-face dialogue was launched last year for the first time since the war.

- AFP