Word: rugova
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...Serbs, when given a choice, elected a moderate nationalist to represent them; now the Kosovar Albanians appear to be doing the same. Initial indications are that Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic League of Kosovo won an impressive victory in the first elections held in the territory since NATO expelled the Yugoslavian army. Although the vote, which was boycotted by the territory's Serb minority, was to appoint representatives to local authorities, they represented the first opportunity for Kosovo's Albanians to state their political preferences since the war. And Rugova's victory appears to have been a stunning setback for Hashem...
...Although he previously had Washington's ear as the popular, pacifist advocate of independence for Kosovo, that changed after the Rambouillet talks early in 1999 when the West began to gear up to fight Slobodan Milosevic for control of the territory. The war saw Rugova eclipsed by the KLA leadership, and by the time it ended State Department officials were feting Thaci and expressing wariness over Rugova. But the continuing violence in Kosovo, which includes both attacks on the remaining Serbs and internecine Albanian turf wars, may have turned many Kosovar Albanians back to Rugova, particularly in light...
...fact that both the Serbs and the Kosovar Albanians have now chosen scholarly men of reason to lead them doesn't diminish the differences they'll have to bridge. Despite his pacifism, Rugova is as firmly committed to independence as Thaci is, while Yugoslavian president Vojislav Kostunica is determined to hold on to it by legal means. And of course right now, Kostunica has the "law" on his side, in the sense that the U.N. resolution that ended last year's war affirmed Yugoslavian sovereignty over an autonomous (but not independent) Kosovo. That's an issue that may still split...
...Snake is still a rank amateur. Kosovo is in ruins, his rebel army is edgy about its demilitarization, and political rivals on all sides are waiting for him to slip up. He'll also face political challenges at home--most notably from the elected President of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, and from newspaper publisher Veton Surroi. Still, the U.S. has anointed him, at least temporarily, as its man. On a visit to Pristina last week, State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin took Thaci for a highly public cup of coffee at a well-known downtown cafe. And in a busy week last...
...course, an essential mission of the war was to give Kosovars the ability to choose for themselves. In Tent H-26 at the Stenkovec camp, the debate has begun. "Rugova's policies led us to this mess," says Rashit Hazir, a teacher from Pristina. "Only the K.L.A. can guarantee our protection." Counters Najle Cerkini, 33, a farmer's wife: "Rugova is a man of the West, and the West came to our rescue, not the K.L.A." After heated debate, a tentwide vote gives Rugova the victory, 5 to 3. NATO's toughest mission may be to ensure a similarly peaceful...