Independence leader Rugova given hero's funeral in Kosovo · Hundreds of thousands line streets to pay tribute · Fears that militant figure could inherit mantle
Ian Traynor in Zagreb Friday January 27, 2006 The Guardian Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians in the contested province of Kosovo lined the streets yesterday to pay tribute to their dead leader, Ibrahim Rugova. Rugova, who died of lung cancer at the age of 61, was given a hero's burial in the Cemetery of Martyrs on a hillside above the capital, Pristina, in eight hours of ceremonies that moved from the parliament building to a sports stadium to a white marble grave. Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- People in the capital and across Kosovo, as well as dozens of foreign dignitaries, turned out in the freezing cold for the ceremonies for the independence leader and president. Rugova, a pacifist patriot who, 17 years ago, helped found one of the first independent political parties to challenge communist rule in former Yugoslavia, died at the weekend as he was preparing to lead the Kosovo Albanian side in UN-mediated negotiations with Serbia over who owns the province. The negotiations, due to start this week in Vienna, have been postponed. The temporary president of Kosovo, Nexhat Daci, who is the parliament speaker, said that Rugova "laid the foundation for Kosovo to become a free and independent state". International officials said Rugova would be sorely missed, since he died when he was most needed to lead the difficult negotiations over Kosovo's future. The province, formally part of Serbia but administered by the UN and home to a 95% Albanian majority that wants independence, has been in limbo for six years, since Nato went to war with Serbia. The lack of progress over Kosovo could lead to further unrest. The talks, which will now be held next month, are intended to resolve the situation, probably by conferring "conditional independence" on Kosovo, but this is likely to be bitterly contested by the Serbs. "It is a cruel irony of history that he left at the moment he was most needed, the very moment he was expected to provide leadership in helping to settle the future status of Kosovo," Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said yesterday. "President Rugova has left a void behind him," said Soren Jessen-Petersen, Kosovo's UN administrator. "But he has also left a vision to guide Kosovo forward." There is no obvious successor to Rugova, and there is anxiety that the former president, a sober if determined nationalist who eschewed violence in the conflict with Serbia, could be replaced by a more militant figure. Absent yesterday from the international delegation was the president of Serbia, Boris Tadic, who was not allowed to attend the funeral. "My wish was to go and pay tribute to a man who thought differently from me, who fought peacefully for his ideas and who represented Kosovo Albanians with whom we share our living space," said President Tadic. Blog your life with Jubiiblog ? try the newest Blog on the block. http://www.jubiiblog.co.uk [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] =============== Group Moderator: [EMAIL PROTECTED] page at http://magazine.sorabia.net for more informations about current situation in Serbia http://www.sorabia.net Slusajte GLAS SORABIJE nas talk internet-radio (Serbian Only) http://radio.sorabia.net Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sorabia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
