Kosovo Albanian crime suspect visits army

Apr. 13, 2006

Former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who faces war crime charges, has told the Kosovo Protection Corps they will be the army of an independent Kosovo.
Haradinaj once headed Kosovo's Liberation Army that fought security forces of the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
On a visit to the Protection Corps, the Liberation Army's successor, in Pristina Haradinaj said he believed once Kosovo gained independence from Serbia the Kosovo Protection Corps will become "Kosovo's modern army," the KosovaLive agency said.
Early this year, Haradinaj was charged with war crimes by the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, but was permitted remain involved in politics as head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo party while on provisional liberty before he goes on trial. He served as prime minister in 2004 and 2005.
Formally, Kosovo is part of Serbia but it has been ruled by the U.N. mission since 1999, when NATO air attacks drove out Milosevic's troops.
Talks have been conducted to decide who will govern Kosovo once NATO and the U.N. mission leave the province, whose population is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.

United Press International