Former political archrivals set to form the new Kosovo government
Former ethnic Albanian rebel leader turned politician Hashim Thaci was named a prime minister designate on Tuesday in apparent attempt of main political parties to form the new cabinet ahead of another crucial phase in the decade long Kosovo crisis.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Outgoing Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu designated the leader of Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) to head the new government and urged the former political foe to assemble the fresh cabinet "as soon as possible".
Thaci's DPK and Sejdiu's Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), that won combined 62 seats in province's 120-seat parliament, are widely expected to form Kosovo's new government despite serious political disputes in the past, including death threats, bomb attacks and grave accusations.
The future government coalition will also include the Alliance New Kosovo (AKR) led by local tycoon Bexhet Pacolli, which won 13 seats on November's general elections.
However, the coalition between two strongest parties which dominated Kosovo's political scene in past eight years was almost unimaginable until the death of LDK's founder and long time leader Ibrahim Rugova, who accused Thaci of "collaboration with Serbian secret services".
The rivalry was, essentially, triggered by the, at the time U.S. secretary of State Madeleine Albright who pushed the young rebel leader into headlines promoting him to head Kosovo's delegation in 1999 Ramboullet peace talks.
Thaci retaliated swiftly, preventing Rugova's return to Kosovo for several months following the deployment of NATO troops and United Nations mission in 1999 and the political battle, mixed with threats and at least two assassination attempts continued until the LDK leader's death in early 2006.
Thaci has promised his fellow Albanians earlier to declare the independence from Serbia "no later than May".
