War crime shadow over PM candidate

A FORMER rebel commander accused of war crimes by Belgrade was asked yesterday to head Kosovo’s new government in a move that could further strain tense ties with Serbia.

Kosovo’s president Fatmir Sejdiu issued a statement calling on Lieutenant General Agim Ceku - a former leader of the now disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army - to become prime minister and form a new government.

Kosovo’s parliament will convene in the coming days to approve the new coalition government. The province’s prime minister resigned on Wednesday.

The overhaul comes just days after the start of sensitive UN-sponsored talks on whether Kosovo will gain full independence or remain part of Serbia.

Earlier yesterday Serbian officials had called Mr Ceku’s possible appointment a provocation and a sign that Kosovo’s position was hardening in the talks on the province’s future.

“It shows that the ethnic Albanians have turned away from a possible compromise and toward a radical stand,” Goran Bogdanovic, a member of the Serbian delegation to the UN talks told Belgrade’s B-92 radio.

Mr Ceku said he was ready to assume power. “If I am asked to do it, I am ready to give my contribution for the good of Kosovo,” he said.