Kosovo: The Quiet Support Behind Ceku's Political Rise
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.
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Our Man Agim
Prologue: Tuesday afternoon I received a phone call from a friend in Washington, who told me of information from a trusted source that Bajram Kosumi, "Prime minister" of the provisional Albanian government of occupied Kosovo, will be forced to resign and replaced by than Agim Ceku. "Can they do that?" my friend asked. "Sure they can, " I replied. "They are the Empire, and Kosumi is a satellite; they can do anythingin Kosovo." Well, except protect non-Albanians, their property and culture, anyway - but why belabor the obvious?
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that Kosovo PM Bajram Kosumi resigned from office, "under pressure" from "Western mentor states shepherding the U.N.-run Serbian province through talks that could lead to its independence." UN's viceroy and steadfast partisan of the Albanian cause, Soeren Jessen-Petersen, commented: "...we want to support Kosovo, but at the same time we want the leaders and the people to work very, very hard to earn that which they want to see in Kosovo."
(Handy translation note: We = Empire; Kosovo = Albanians. Carry on.)
And sure enough, Kosumi's successor is Agim Ceku, the butcher of Krajina and the highest-ranking "military" commander of the terrorist KLA (Hashim "Snake" Thaci was its political leader). He is a natural choice to fill the shoes of Ramush "Golden Boy" Haradinaj, another KLA veteran who resigned as Prime Minister last March to face charges before the Hague Inqusition - which promptly released him and sent him back to Kosovo. Writes Chris Deliso of Balkanalysis.com:
There's certainly no one as good as Ceku at removing "unnecessary delays," especially if it involves removing unnecessary populations.
So let's review here. First Bush II adopts a Balkans policy strategy written by the Clintonites, which amounts to secession of Kosovo, secession of Montenegro, a Muslim-dominated centralized Bosnia and preferably the smallest, weakest Serbia imaginable. Then Kai Eide, the Whitewasher of March, greenlights the final-status talks despite the UN standards (from "standards before status") manifestly nowhere near being met. Then Martti Ahtisaari, who was instrumental in tricking Belgrade to sign a truce in 1999 that NATO interpreted as unconditional surrender of Kosovo, and who then joined the Serbophobic and pro-Albanian ICG, is chosen to chair the negotiations. Then, following the death and beatification of Ibrahim Rugova, American and UK diplomats openly declare that independence of "Kosova" is inevitable, and Belgrade should deal with it. Now the "international community" shows the precise extent to which it controls the Kosovo Albanians, by forcing their top officials (Nexhat Daci, speaker of the Albanian parliament, was also forced to resign) out to make way for their KLA pets.
Despite his involvement in the deliberate slaughter of Serb civilians in present-day Croatia (for which the Inquisition has hounded his immediate superior, Ante Gotovina), Ceku not only didn't get indicted, he was put on UN payroll as commander of the "Kosovo Protection Corps," a sinecure for KLA veterans established after the occupation. When Ceku was arrested on a stopover in Slovenia, on a perfectly valid and legal Interpol warrant based on criminal charges in Serbia, he was bailed out by Viceroy Harri Holkeri who declared that "Serbia-Montenegro no longer had jurisdiction over the citizens [sic] of Kosovo." Holkeri displayed no such decisiveness during the Albanian Kristallnacht a few months later, hiding instead with the best of the rabbits.
After all this, can anyone in Belgrade who still has even a single functioning brain cell honestly believe that the "international community" (i.e. Washington, Brussels and satellites) has anything but an Albanian "Kosova" in mind? There is no doubt about it any more.
The plot to separate Kosovo from Serbia de jure as well as de facto should be the primary concern of whoever heads the government in Belgrade. Not chasing Ratko Mladic, or negotiating the possibility of a theoretical consideration of a promise to maybe negotiate the notion of eventualkly entering the EU - the preservation of Serbia's territorial integrity, here and now. Acquiescing to the "independence" of "Kosova" is treason. Trouble is, these days treason is trendy in Belgrade. It's progressive, civilized, "democratic" even...
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