PARIS, March 8 -- Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj of Kosovo, an ethnic Albanian who rose from nightclub bouncer to guerrilla commander before switching to politics, resigned Tuesday after announcing he had been indicted for war crimes. He said he would travel to The Hague to wage a defense before an international court.
The indictment of Haradinaj by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia had been expected for some time. Nevertheless, it heightened political tensions in the province and raised fears of unrest by Haradinaj's supporters.
Ramush Haradinaj led part of rebel force.
(File Photo)
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In Kosovo, still formally a province of Serbia and Montenegro, Haradinaj is seen by the ethnic Albanian majority as an independence hero in the struggle against Serbian rule. But most of the minority Serbs in Kosovo loathe him and other leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the militia that led a battle for independence against the forces of Slobodan Milosevic, then Yugoslav president.
Spokesmen for the U.N. mission in Kosovo and for NATO, which leads the international peacekeeping force there, said streets were calm Tuesday after Haradinaj's resignation. "At the moment, everything is very quiet," said Marcia Poole, the U.N. spokeswoman in Pristina, Kosovo's capital.
The NATO commander in the province, Lt. Gen. Yves De Kermabon of France, said in a statement that he respected Haradinaj's decision to resign and called on Kosovo residents "to remain calm and sensible. Do not respond to the temptation of anger."
NATO normally has about 17,000 troops in Kosovo, but two additional battalions arrived in recent days, part of a long-planned exercise that alliance officials said was not related to the timing of the indictment.
The indictment remains sealed in The Hague, a tribunal spokesman said. Still, the charges are believed to cover a two-year period beginning in 1998, when Haradinaj returned from Western Europe, where he held a series of jobs, including one as a nightclub bouncer in Switzerland. He eventually took command of the Kosovo Liberation Army's western branch.
Haradinaj's forces earned a reputation for brutality and were accused of numerous atrocities against ethnic Serbs, including the clubbing deaths of about 40 civilians and an incident at a wedding party in which several women were raped and four men shot and killed.
One of Haradinaj's brothers was found guilty of war crimes, but the prime minister has repeatedly denied allegations that he had also committed atrocities.
During the U.S.-led NATO air campaign against Milosevic's forces in 1999, Haradinaj became a key ally for NATO on the ground.
Milosevic, who is on trial in The Hague for genocide and war crimes, has repeatedly cited atrocities by the Kosovo Liberation Army as part of his defense, and has said the Serbian security forces under his command were simply responding to "terrorism" committed by Haradinaj and the Kosovo Albanian insurgents.
Many Serbs have accused The Hague tribunal of bias for prosecuting mainly Serbian officers and political leaders while ignoring atrocities committed by ethnic Albanians.
The special U.N. representative in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, received "notice of an imminent indictment" late Monday night, a U.N. spokesman said. Jessen-Petersen then informed Haradinaj, who told his cabinet Tuesday morning.
Haradinaj had been widely considered competent and capable of helping to steer the province toward the ethnic Albanian majority's goal of independence. The United Nations and the Western countries maintaining the peace in Kosovo were due this year to begin considering the status of the province, which remains a de facto U.N. protectorate.
"I cannot hide the fact that his departure will leave a big gap," Jessen-Petersen said. "Thanks to Ramush Haradinaj's dynamic leadership, strong commitment and vision, Kosovo is today closer than ever before to achieving its aspirations in settling its future status."
