EU told to up the pressure on Kosovo

Date: 09/03/06

Senior Serbian officials have called for EU pressure to force Kosovo's prime minister-designate, Agim Ceku, to answer charges of war crimes.

Ceku's nomination, made after the resignation of Bajram Kosumi on 1 March, threatens to disrupt the talks on Kosovo's final status, which were launched in Vienna in February. A further round of UN-sponsored talks is scheduled for 17 March.

Ceku, who is currently head of the Kosovo Protection Corps - seen by many as a nascent army - is considered a war criminal by Belgrade because of his role in the Kosovo Liberation Army and earlier fighting against Serbs during the war with Croatia.

On a visit to Brussels this week Dus

an Batakovic« and Aleksandar Simic«, who are part of Belgrade's negotiating team in the Kosovo talks, said Ceku's appointment could be seen as a "provocation" for Kosovo's Serbs.

The first round of United Nation's mediated talks held in Vienna in February focused on decentralisation of power from Pristina to Serb areas.

With many in the international community advocating full independence for Kosovo, Serbian leaders are under intense domestic pressure to negotiate a good deal for Kosovo's Serbs.

According to Batakovic«, an adviser to President Boris Tadic«, Ceku's appointment can only be divisive.

"Politically speaking, his nomination is aimed at consolidating the Albanian community in Kosovo and not at encouraging reconciliation and mutual trust between the two communities.

"The problem is that we are all interested in building a civil society in Kosovo and if you are nominating General Ceku who was fighting against Serbs both in Croatia and Kosovo, he is obviously not the person who will enjoy support and confidence in the Serbian community," he said.

While stopping short of calling for talks to be suspended, Simic«, who advises Prime Minister Vojislav Kos

tunica, said that Belgrade would reassess the situation after Ceku is sworn in.

"We will reconsider all the facts after he manages to be elected in Pristina," he said.

Belgrade is also under pressure because of the continued hunt for Serb war crime indictee Ratko Mladic«, who is wanted by the International Tribunal in The Hague (ICTY).

Simic« said that the international community should hold Ceku to account in the same way that Serbs were held to account at the ICTY.

EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana has described Ceku's appointment as "an internal matter".

If confirmed, Ceku will be the third prime minister in the space of a year. In March 2005 Ramush Haradinaj was extradited to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Article reports that Senior Serbian officials called for EU pressure to force Kosovo's Prime Minister-designate, Agim Ceku, to answer charges of war crimes. Ceku's nomination, made after the resignation of Bajram Kosumi on 1 March 2006, threatened to disrupt the talks on Kosovo's final status, which had been launched in Vienna in February 2006. A further round of UN-sponsored talks was scheduled for 17 March 2006.