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In Profile: Key Figures in Kosovo’s Independence Struggle

February 16, 201817:33
As Kosovo marks the 10th anniversary of its declaration of independence, BIRN highlights some of the key people who led, supported or opposed Kosovo Albanians' fight for their own state.

Hashim Thaci: Guerrilla Chief Became Kosovo Leader

An Albanian boy in military uniform salutes to KLA leader Hashim Thaci during Albanian celebrations marking the retreat of Serbian troops from Podujevo, Saturday, 07 August 1999. Photo: EPA/ALBAN BUJARI

Hashim Thaci, one of the leaders of Kosovo Liberation Army, formed a new party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK after the war – the political force to emerge from the ranks KLA.

Following the PDK’s victory in parliamentary elections in 2007, Thaci was elected Kosovo’s prime minister. On February 17, 2008, he declared Kosovo an independent state in parliament.

Thaci resigned from his position as head of PDK after he was elected Kosovo’s president in February 2016 amid violent opposition party protests outside parliament.

Fatmir Sejdiu: First Post-Independence President

At the time Kosovo’s President Fatmir Sejdiu (Left) and Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci wave to the people gathered to celebrate the independence from Serbia in the center of Pristina, Kosovo on 17 February 2008. Photo: GEORGI LICOVSKI/EPA

Fatmir Sejdiu was the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo party after the death of its founder, former president Ibrahim Rugova, in 2006.

Fatmir Sejdiu was elected president of Kosovo in 2006. This makes him the first president that the country had after it declared independence in 2008.

As president, Sejdiu led status talks with Serbia, facilitated by international community in Vienna, which resulted in the declaration of Kosovo’s independence.

He is no longer active in Kosovo’s political scene.

Jakup Krasniqi: KLA Spokesperson Turned Politician

Jakup Krasniqi, at the time spokesman of the Kosovo Liberation Army, listens to a question during a press conference in Tirana on March 20, 1999. Photo: EPA/ARMANDO BABANI

Jakup Krasniqi was the spokesperson for the Kosovo Liberation Army, while after the war he went into politics with Hashim Thaci and his Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK.

He was appointed as speaker of parliament in January 2008 and as such, his signature is next to Thaci’s and Sejdiu’s on the declaration of Kosovo’s independence.

Following disagreements within the party, Krasniqi and Fatmir Limaj – another former senior official of the KLA and PDK – established a new political party, NISMA (Initiative for Kosovo) in 2014. Currently NISMA is part of the ruling coalition with the PDK.

 Oliver Ivanovic: Serb Who Resisted Independence

Leader of Kosovo Serb and at the time deputy candidate for parliament Oliver Ivanovic, takes a voting ballot at the polling station in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica in November 2001. The elections were the first general elections since Kosovo was placed under UN administration in 1999. Photo: SASA STANKOVIC/EPA

Oliver Ivanovic was one of the main Kosovo Serbs politician who became a party leaders after his Democratic Alternative merged into the Social Democratic Party in 2004. He was the leader of the Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija, which won eight out of 10 Serb community seats in the Kosovo Assembly in 2004.

When MPs declared independence in 2008 in the Assembly, 11 representatives of Kosovo Serbs boycotted the parliamentary session.

Ivanovic was shot dead on January 16 in front of his party’s offices in northern Mitrovica.

George W. Bush: US Backer of Kosovo’s Cause

At the time US President George W. Bush shakes hands with the then President of Kosovo Fatmir Sejdiu and the Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci after a meeting in the Oval Office in July 2008. Photo: EPA/SHAWN THEW

George W. Bush, as the president of the United States, was one of the international leaders who insisted that Kosovo should declare independence.

The US was one of the first countries to recognise Kosovo as independent, and on February 19, 2008, Bush said this would “bring peace to a region scarred by war”.

In recognition of his support, Kosovo’s capital named a street after him.

Ibrahim Rugova: Leader Who Never Saw Independence

Ibrahim Rugova, late leader of LDK, addresses his supporters after he cast his vote in November 2001 first general elections since Kosovo was placed under UN administration.
Photo: EPA/ARMANDO BABANI

Ibrahim Rugova, the former president of Kosovo, was the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, which was set up in 1989 by a group of intellectuals and was seen as the pacifist leader of Kosovo’s struggle for independence.

During the 1990s, the party led parallel Albanian structures in Kosovo, and in 1992 organised a referendum on self-determination, in which over 87 per cent of the ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo voted for independence.

However, Rugova was absent when Kosovo declared independence as he died of lung cancer in 2006.

Nicolas Sarkozy: Demanded New Map of Europe

At the time US President George Bush and the President of France Nicholas Sarkozy in DC in November 2007. Photo: EPA/SHAWN THEW

France, led by President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, was the first EU member country to recognise Kosovo after its declaration of independence.

Two days before Kosovo made the declaration, Sarkozy made clear his support for the move.

On February 15, 2008, while visiting a French school, Sarkozy pointed at a map of Europe and told the pupils: “You’ll need to change that, with Kosovo.”

Slobodan Milosevic: Serbian Leader Who Lost Kosovo

Late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic puts back in his pocket his pen as he casts his vote in April 1998 referendum to decide whether or not the inter-ethnic conflict in the Kosovo should be mediated with international assistance. Photo: EPA/SRDJAN SUKI

Slobodan Milosevic was the president of Serbia and then of Yugoslavia. As soon as he took office, Milosevic made constitutional changes that reduced the autonomy of Kosovo, which at the time was a Yugoslav province.

His political moves met strong opposition from Kosovo Albanians that led to the armed conflict in 1998-99, when over 13,000 people were killed.

Milosevic was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague but died of a heart attack in 2006 before his trial was concluded.

Vojislav Kostunica: PM Called Independence Illegal

Serbia’s then Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica talks during the rally to protest against Kosovo’s independence in Belgrade, February 21 2008. Photo: EPA/KOCA SULEJMANOVIC

Vojislav Kostunica was the prime minister of Serbia when Kosovo declared independence.

On February 17, 2008, Kostunica stated that Belgrade would never recognise its independence in any way, referring to Kosovo as an “artificial state” and insisting that it would remain part of Serbia.

The same day, the Serbian parliament confirmed his government’s decision to reject the “illegal” declaration of independence.