[NYC-L] Rugova Assassination Attempt

[Jeton Ademaj]

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050315/1/3r9l6.html

Wednesday March 16, 2:39 AM
Kosovo president survives roadside bomb ahead of Solana meeting

A roadside bomb narrowly missed Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova as he drove 
to meet visiting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, an attack that drew 
condemnation from Europe and the United States.

Rugova survived without injury when the bomb detonated as his convoy passed 
on its way to the meeting in the provincial capital Pristina, Kosovo police 
spokesman Refki Morina said. One passerby was injured.

A visibly shaken Rugova attended the meeting with Solana, who is in Kosovo 
to discuss the formation of a new government following the resignation of 
prime minister Ramush Haradinaj to face charges at the UN war crimes court.

"Thank God I am saved again because the same thing happened a year ago," 
Rugova, 61, told reporters after the meeting.

"Unfortunately there are still people who want to destabilize Kosovo. I 
condemn this act and the people who do things like this should be stopped."

A security guard said he believed the bomb, which exploded around 8:30 am 
(0730 GMT), was hidden in a garbage can and detonated by remote control. 
"The blast was so strong that it broke windows on the fifth floor of a 
nearby building," he said.

The international community immediately condemned the blast as an act of 
terrorism which threatened to destabilise the southern Serbian province, 
still highly volatile more than five years after the 1998-1999 war between 
ethnic Albanian separatist guerrillas and Serbian security forces.

The attack came days after Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, a former 
ethnic Albanian guerrilla commander seen as a hero by many Kosovo Albanians, 
resigned and surrendered to the UN war crimes court at The Hague.

"This attack on the president of Kosovo, at a time when all democratic 
forces in the province should be working together to safeguard and promote 
the fundamental values of democracy and human rights, is an unacceptable act 
of terrorism," said Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis.

The top US diplomat in Kosovo, Philip Goldberg, said the bombing "can only 
damage efforts to build a peaceful, democratic Kosovo. Such acts of violence 
and terror have no place in a society dedicated to democratic principles and 
the rule of law".

About 1,000 extra NATO peacekeepers were dispatched to the UN-run province 
this month amid fears of a new explosion of violence by Haradinaj loyalists 
targeting the Serb minority or even UN staff.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority demands independence from Serbia and 
opposes any moves to try former guerrillas in the UN war crimes court, 
insisting they were freedom fighters.

Solana later met the commander of NATO-led forces in Kosovo as well as chief 
UN administrator Soren Jessen-Petersen.

"I condemn strongly the attack. We cannot tolerate these kinds of acts. 
Kosovo is a place which needs a future, not bombs," Solana told reporters.

Petersen said he was "shocked and outraged" by the bombing. "Such acts have 
no support from the population and won't succeed," he said.

In a separate statement Solana praised the "maturity" of Kosovo in keeping 
the peace following Haradinaj's resignation, and urged Rugova to "take 
responsibility" for the formation of the new government.

Rugova dismissed fears of an institutional crisis following Haradinaj's 
departure, but a statement from the government Tuesday said the bombing was 
a direct threat to stability.

"It is a brutal and terrorist attack against the highest institution here. 
The attack implies the most dangerous scenario for the destabilization of 
Kosovo," the provincial government said.

Haradinaj pleaded not guilty in his first appearance before the UN court on 
Monday. He is facing 37 charges involving murder, persecution and rape of 
civilian Serbs, Roma (gypsies) and ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo has been administered by the UN since a NATO air campaign in 1999 
forced Serbian troops under then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to 
withdraw from the province and end a crackdown on the separatist movement.