The Quiet Support Behind Ceku's Political Rise

Balkan ping!

What now?

Who is supporting Islamists... again?

Kosovo Albanian accuses US diplomats of political sacking

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-The president of Kosovo's assembly accused U.S. diplomats on Thursday of orchestrating a political reshuffle in the province which led to his dismissal.

Nexhat Daci, who was also part of the team negotiating Kosovo's final status with Serbia, was replaced by his party, the governing Democratic League of Kosovo, on Wednesday. Parliament will have to choose a new leader for his dismissal to take effect.

Daci was dismissed as part of a broader reshuffle within the governing coalition, which also included the resignation of Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi. But the parliament president refused to step down voluntarily, and accused U.S. diplomats, whom he did not name, of pushing him out.

"I have become an obstacle to the personal interests of some American citizen," Daci said in an interview to be broadcast in Kosovo's public television, RTK, later Thursday. "The relations have been strained for private reasons," he said without elaborating.

Daci's attack is highly unusual for an ethnic Albanian politician. The United States is considered a savior by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians for its role in leading NATO's air war that pushed Serb forces out of the province in 1999.

Philip Goldberg, the top U.S. diplomat in Kosovo, denied interference.

The party's decision to replace Daci was "taken on the basis of democratic procedures and not on a basis of any outside interference," Goldberg said in a statement.

The changes come at a sensitive time for the province, with ethnic Albanians and Serbs conducting crucial U.N.-mediated talks on whether Kosovo will become independent, as its ethnic Albanian majority insists it must, or remain part of Serbia.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, and talks aim to resolve its status by the end of the 2006.

March 02, 2006 2:03 PM

Ceku is known as a terrorist from Croatia for starters. The Serbs want him in a bad way. Now, can you imagine being a Serb negotiator and setting across from an official that you have an indictment for......:)

I believe that it might be a "little" intimidating. I understand that Agim Ceku began consultations on Friday (3 March 06) with the provincial parliamentary parties, aimed at forming a new cabinet. I believe that he was nominated last week by President Fatmir Sejdiu to replace Bajram Kosumi, who announced his resignation on Wednesday.

In the meantime the UNMIK head Soren Jessen-Petersen told Voice of America Saturday that he is unlikely to intervene in the selection of a prime minister, despite strong objections voiced by Belgrade to Ceku's nomination. Serbia has accused the former Kosovo Liberation Army commander and current head of the Kosovo Protection Force of involvement in war crimes. On Friday, Belgrade officially demanded that UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen use his powers to block Ceku's appointment. (Danas, RTS - 04/03/06; Tanjug, B92, KosovaLive, RFE, AP - 03/03/06)

I also understand that Kosumi was not able to perform duties which was the same for what happened with Holkeri. The contact group did not find Kosumi appropriate for the status talks and as a leader. Information I have is that the assembly forced a re-election. It is thought that Kosovars will buy into it because Ceku is a hero as much as Ramush. Lufti Haziri will be his deputy. Lufti will mentor Ceku, simply because Lufti knows how to play politics.

I hear that this act of replacing Kosumi was preplanned months ago. Americans on one side have no idea what is going on. Others that have opinions are saying that American tax payed money supports terrorists in the Balkans and that we are supporting terrorism in the Balkans. Others are members of a lobbying group that are promoting Kosovo independence very hard in Washington, DC.

It is thought that the Serbs won't give in for a proxy membership into the EU.
The grass roots or moderate Albanians may very well be screwed. It depends how the EU will soften the Serbs stance about Ceku. The Serbs may resist any assimilation with the moderate Albanians. Kosovo Serbs; well that is different story. They are in deep crap it seems. If all this goes through there is a good chance that the Croats will secede from the Bosnian part; Serbs from R.Srpska and Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia will be considered a group of lost lands in Europe, and thanks to our respective countries, who are considered to be instigators for the ills of the moderate Balkan people.

I don't believe that the UN will do anything to respond substantively to the Serb's legitimate complaint. The UN envoy was quick to say the changes would not affect negotiations at all. I’m not sure what he was smoking when this was said.

Quote: "I don't see this development as a government crisis," Ahtisaari said. "We will continue the negotiations ... this development will not influence the process."

The UN may use terms like "democracy" "self-determination" to legitimize a war criminal....while ignoring whatever the international pressure was to remove Kosumi.

I don’t know the current status yet, as he was not technically yet --just nominated ---so the Serbs can stridently oppose without looking like they're going to walk out...

Serbia’s government warned that talks between Belgrade and Prishtina launched last month could be damaged if former chief of Ethnic Albanian guerilla will lead Kosovo’s government and urged the head of UN mission to forbidden his appointment.

“The international community through its representatives took the responsibility to create all the necessary conditions for the talks to be unhindered and held in line with the acknowledged democratic standards… The Serbian government is demanding from Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General Soren Jessen-Petersen to act according to his authorisations stated in the UN SC Resolution 1244 and prevent the appointment of Agim Ceku.” Serbia”s government said in a statement.

It is known that during the NATO air strikes, Ceku was the chief commander of KLA which fought against Serbian forces. Earlier he joined Croatian forces during the 1992-1995 war also against Serbian army.

Serbia I believed issued an arrest warrant against Ceku in 2002 and charged him for alleged crimes against Kosovo Serbs during 1999 Kosovo war.

“The Serbian government is extremely concerned that Agim Ceku has been proposed for Prime Minister of Kosovo-Metohija. Agim Ceku is under investigation by the Serbian courts on the suspicion of having committed war crimes and an international warrant for his arrest has also been issued. The Serbian Ministry of Interior sent a criminal charge to the Hague Tribunal as the relevant information against Agim Ceku concerning the committed war crimes,” reads the statement of Belgrade authorities.

US diplomats have been accused by Kosovo’s Parliament president for influencing his sacking, part of wide changes which affected especially the government.

Nexhat Daci who refuses the decision of his own political party (The democratic League of Kosovo-LDK) told Kosovo media that the decision for his dismissal is being orchestrated by American diplomats in UN administrated province.

Daci told Kosovo’s public television RTK and daily newspaper Express that he became “ an obstacle to the personal interests of some American citizens”, but refused to make public any names.

The Monday’s decision of LDK to sack Daci was followed with resignation of Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi and nomination of new PM General Agim Ceku, by the smaller party of the coalition, The Alliance for Future of Kosovo (AAK).

The U.S. representative in Kosovo, Philip Goldberg denied the accusations and said the changes are decisions made by the coalition partners LDK-AAK.

“The decisions made here are democratic, taken by political parties of the coalition. They are there to take decisions and attempts to implicate the US are unfortunate”
he said.

The nomination of Ceku to lead Kosovo’s cabinet was protested by Serbian government, which has issued an international arrest warrant on charges for suspected crimes against Serbian civilians in Kosovo, during the 1999 war.

The changes were made just about ten days after Serbia and Kosovo had entered the talks on the future of Kosovo. The first phase is focused on the self rule powers at municipal level for minorities.

The EU and US did urge Ceku to increase the work on the UN-set standards, dealing mainly with protection and human rights of minorities.

Articles about Ceku:

Batic: Ceku’s Hands Are Covered With Serbian Blood

Belgrade, 2 Mar. (Tanjug) – President of Demo-Christian party of Serbia Vladan Batic estimated that now is the right time for Serbian Negotiation team, Serbian Prime Minister and President Vojislav Kostunica and Boris Tadic to raise their voices and say they do not want to negotiate with Agim Ceku, a “man who’s hands are covered with Serbian blood”.
Batic in his statement to Tanjug noted that he as former Minister of Justice in Zoran Djindjic’s government collected evidence on crimes of the “Kosovo Liberation Army” in Kosovo and Metohija committed against non-Albanians.

Serbian Government: Ceku candidacy Unacceptable
Belgrade, 02 Mar (Beta) – On Thursday the Serbian government evaluated that the nomination of Agim Ceku for Kosovo premier is “unacceptable” since there is an indictment against him and an international warrant for his arrest.
Srdjan Djuric, chief of the Serbian government media relations office, said that war crimes prosecution raised an indictment against Ceku who is suspected of committing war crimes, and added that nowhere in Europe or the world a person accused of committing war crimes is president of government.
“Having in mind this it is totally unacceptable for Serbian government that a man accused of war crimes can be elected at any political position,” said Djuric.
International community representatives in charge of Kosovo and Metohija have commitments to protect fundamental civilization norms and stop the electing of Agim Ceku.
Asked whether Serbian Government will negotiate with him, Djuric said it is still too early to talk about this and that eyes will be focused of further development.

Nikolic: No Negotiations With Ceku
Belgrade, 2 Mar (Beta) – Deputy president of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Tomislav Nikolic stated today that Serbia should not negotiate with, as he estimated, war criminals such as Agim Ceku, who is the candidate for Kosovo Prime Minister.
Nikolic at a press conference said that in the talks about the future status of Kosovo and Metohija “there is no Serb who has in common to talks with war criminals” and this should not be done even by Serbian president Boris Tadic, or prime minister Vojislav Kostunica.
“I am ready to grant permission to talk with Albanians, soldiers and politicians, but not to evildoers. We are talking about criminals Ceku, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinaj, there is no talks with them”, warned Nikolic.
After resignation of prime minister Bajram Kosumi, Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu nominated today TMK commander Ceku, to assemble a new government of Kosovo, based on coalition agreement between Democratic Alliance of Kosovo and the Alliance for Future of Kosovo and other partners.
Nikolic added that he does not understands Kostunica and Tadic who are tolerating Serbia and Montenegro president Svetozar Marovic, who
announced that after he recovers from illness, he will join campaign for independence of Montenegro.

History of KLA Chief of Staff Agim Ceku (previously with the Croatian Armed Forces):

He has been involved in a long-term relationship with the MPRI. Ceku started working with MPRI in 1995 in the planning of "Operation Storm" in Croatia, which led to ethnic massacres and the expulsion of more than 200.000 Serbs from the Krajina region of Croatia. The fact that Ceku is "an alleged war criminal" -- according to the files of the Hague Tribunal (a body reporting to the UN Secretary General)-- does not, however, seem to bother anybody in the "international community".

Ceku holds a UN passport (Laissez-Passer) which provides him with diplomatic immunity within Kosovo. According to ICTY prosecutor Carla del Ponte, Ceku's reputation and integrity, however, are unstained because the Hague tribunal's "inquiries ... relate to atrocities committed [by Ceku] in Krajina ... between 1993 and 1995... Ceku's record in Kosovo itself is not thought to be in question…".

Daci was dismissed as part of a broader reshuffle within the governing coalition, which also included the resignation of Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi. But the parliament president refused to step down voluntarily, and accused U.S. diplomats, whom he did not name, of pushing him out. "I have become an obstacle to the personal interests of some American citizen," Daci said in an interview to be broadcast in Kosovo's public television, RTK, later Thursday. "The relations have been strained for private reasons," he said without elaborating.

Kronos77, thanks for the ping and thanks to both of you for the input.

Please excuse my ignorance, I'm still trying to understand the entire Balkans situation and history.

Do either of you have any insight on Daci's statement(s) quoted above? Also, why do we, the U.S., continue to support known muslim terrorists, in this case Ceku? Is it a pathetic attempt to save face from our mistakes of 10 years ago? To me it simply defies logic. Thanks.

"Please excuse my ignorance, I'm still trying to understand the entire Balkans situation and history."

****Well, if you figure it out, then come back and fill me in. I don't anyone that has this thing completely figured out except the ones pulling the strings and they get surprised every now and then. One can only state their opinion based on what they've read in three different locations or sources to get an idea. I am always open to being corrected or learning something new that I didn't know before. You do get "advocates" or so-called experts that have agendas and are not open to new information.

[quote] Do either of you have any insight on Daci's statement(s) quoted above? Also, why do we, the U.S., continue to support known muslim terrorists, in this case Ceku? Is it a pathetic attempt to save face from our mistakes of 10 years ago? To me it simply defies logic.[quote]

******* I can only share my humble opinion, in that the American Administration has always been in favor of the Muslims in Bosnia, Croatians and Kosovar Muslims for many reasons. Certainly Slobo was responsible for severe violations of human rights from Bosnia to Kosovo. However, the activity was nowhere near what the U.S. and NATO claimed to justify the massive bombing and lack of strategic bombing as was done in Iraq. The targets picked in Kosovo for instance were ill conceived at best. It's a long story.

Anyway, The idea was to reduce the communist buffer (Yugoslavia), a long time ago. This was an effort to expand our sphere of protection (Polically correct term.....:))

In doing so, we fabricated many massacres or should I say, exaggerated the incidents almost to the level of Orsen Wells in order to justify the bombing. I'm afraid it's exactly the strategy that Hitler used in WWII to reduce the communist. Of course we are different than Hitler, the strategy is interestingly the same. Billy Bob Clinton also needed a distraction from his personal drama, (not the main reason however....), and to show the Muslims we are not "biased"........but open to all. blah blah blah.......

I believe that its beyond saving face, but more of a political strategy, and at the same time saving face due to a signficant screwup in the 90's.....

Commander Drini was a good commander of the FARK and when he returned from exile he was murdered by members of the PDK or AAK for his moderate talk. He was a very influential man and well liked. However, he did not support the Greater Kosovo or Greater Albanian theme.....

Therefore he was assassinated.......for starters.

On Ceku.....Google "operation storm".....in croatia.
Anyway,

Thank you for your input, I do appreciate it. I'll be heading to google to read and (hopefully) understand more. Don't be surprised if I pop up on future threads of this nature with more questions; hope you don't mind.

Of course I don't mind. If you ask a question I don't know then someone on there does or we research it and find out...here is another bit of info someone sent me......This is a bad situation......

Quote:

The Quiet Support Behind Ceku's Political Rise
This analysis by Statfor claims that Gen. Agim Ceku was propelled to power(PM) by U.S. influence. While it’s hard to verify such claims, one thing is sure: Ceku has had a very special relationship with the U. S military for over 15 years; Starting with the war in Croatia in 1991, when US military advisers helped to train the Croatian Army, then during NATO’s War against Serbia, and finally his cooperation with the American KFOR in Kosovo after the war. In addition to that, Mr. Ceku has a very close relationship with several Military Colleges in the United States where he has been sending members of KPC to train. He is known to have visited these colleges regularly in the last couple of years.

March 03, 2006 19 40 GMT

Summary

Kosovar Lt. Gen. Agim Ceku appears poised to become prime minister after President Fatmir Sejdiu asked him to assume the role March 2, one day after Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi resigned. Although Ceku's guerrilla background worries Serbia and some other European countries, Kosovo's political leadership and the United States are ready for Ceku's ascension to power.

Analysis

Kosovo's newly elected President Fatmir Sejdiu asked Lt. Gen. Agim Ceku to become prime minister March 2, one day after Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi resigned during a government shake-up. Ceku, a former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla leader and current head of Kosovo's Protection Corps, is a controversial figure. He has been accused of masterminding at least two massacres of Serbs during the Kosovo war. He is also allegedly involved in organized crime.

So why would a former guerrilla with no previous political affiliation suddenly skyrocket to power? Ceku is considered a hero in Kosovo and is known for his effective leadership style. He also has never openly sided with one political party until now. More importantly, Ceku has quiet support from the United States. Ceku cooperated with NATO and Washington in 1999 and 2000 in the last stages of the Kosovo war. As a result, the United States has intervened more than once to prevent Ceku's indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague.

For the United States, which has significant influence in Kosovo, Ceku is a known quantity. Kosumi was not. Kosumi was a student activist and teacher, which meant Washington could do little to pressure him. Kosumi even received criticism from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for failing to implement required changes, including filling all government positions. This led Kosumi's Alliance for the Future of Kosovo party to press for his resignation after he failed to comply with international protocol. U.S. military leaders likely know a great deal, both good and bad, about Ceku and can take some comfort in NATO's ability to influence him.

European leaders said March 2 they will withhold judgment on Ceku until after he assumes power. Europe's capitals intend to see how well he abides by human rights agreements, which means Brussels will be watching to see how many Serbs die or are run out of Kosovo after Ceku becomes prime minister.

The ministerial substitution comes during a delicate period between the first and second rounds of U.N.-mediated talks between Kosovar Albanians and Serbians regarding Kosovo's status. The United Nations, which has administered the province since 1999, believes Kosovo will gain independence by the end of 2006. However, Ceku's sudden appearance on the political scene will exasperate Serbia, because Belgrade considers him a war criminal. Ceku's possible appointment seems to be a slap in the face for Serbia, but that will matter little if the U.S. and Kosovar political leadership want Ceku in a position of power