http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4849315,00.html
Kosovo's Prime Minister Indicted
Tuesday March 8, 2005 12:16 PM
By FISNIK ABRASHI
Associated Press Writer
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Kosovo's prime minister said Tuesday he had
been indicted by the U.N. war crimes court for his alleged part in atrocities
during the fight against Serb forces and will resign.
Ramush Haradinaj told The Associated Press he would step down and travel to The
Hague, Netherlands, where the court is based, to defend himself.
``I am one of those accused,'' he said, suggesting others also had
been indicted.
``As a result of this indictment I have resigned from the post of Kosovo's prime
minister,'' Haradinaj said, adding that he would voluntarily give himself up to
court authorities in the Dutch city on Wednesday.
War crimes tribunal officials in The Hague declined comment on the case.
Haradinaj, in office for three months, was a senior commander of the Kosovo
Liberation Army, the ethnic Albanian rebel group that fought Serb troops in the
1998-99 conflict that led to the province's present status as a U.N.
protectorate.
U.N. war crimes investigators questioned him late last year for his role in
Kosovo's war, during which he served as a commander of the ethnic
Albanian rebels
in the west of the province. He has denied involvement in any crimes.
Haradinaj is the second senior former rebel leader to be indicted by the
tribunal. The U.N. war crimes court indicted Fatmir Limaj in 2003, and he is now
on trial at The Hague for his role during the ethnic Albanian insurgency against
Serb troops of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Still, Haradinaj's hero status during the Kosovo war and his present position as
prime minister made his arrest much more significant than Limaj's.
Security was boosted as the news broke in apparent anticipation of trouble by
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, which strongly backs Haradinaj. But no unrest
was reported by early afternoon.
Col. Yves de Kermabon, the spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo,
said 500 additional British troops arrived in Kosovo since Monday.
The U.N. mission administering Kosovo elevated its security threat level to
``stage black'' around the western Kosovo town of Pec because of a police
operation, said U.N spokesman Hua Jiang, without elaborating. Jiang suggested
others who have been indicted were in that region.
``Stage black'' means only essential staff have to report for duty, she said.
Kosovo, which officially remains province of Serbia-Montenegro, has been
administered by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, following the alliance's
war aimed at halting a crackdown by Serb troops on ethnic Albanian rebels.
Its majority ethnic Albanian population wants independence, whereas the Serb
minority insists it should remain part of Serbia.
Serbian News Network - SNN
news@antic.org
http://www.antic.org/
