BIOGRAPHY OF AGIM CEKU.
The candidate for the new premier of Kosovo, Agim Ceku, was born in 1960,in
the village of Cuska, near Pec. He studied for two years at the Belgrade
Military Academy and continued his schooling at the military academy in
Zadar, Croatia.
He was platoon commander at the Reserve Officers' School in the
then-Yugoslav People's Army from 1984 to 1990, and subsequently commander
of an artillery platoon at the Zadar military academy.
When war broke out in the former Yugoslavia, in October 1991, he joined the
Croatian National Guard and was put in command of the artillery unit in
Zadar, later to become deputy commander of the combat division.
In February 1992, the Croatian military gave him command over the Maslenica
Combat Division, and then over the anti-tank division and garrison in
Gospic.
As a member of the Croatian Army, Ceku received nine medals from Croatia's
first president, Franjo Tudjman, for showing "courage in combat against
Yugoslav forces."
According to the Belgrade press, Ceku distinguished himself while commanding
Operation Scorched Earth, that is, attacks on Medak, Citluk and
Pocitelj, in September 1993, in which all Serb villages in the area were
destroyed.
Ceku was then put in command of the artillery of the 9th Guard Brigade
"Vukovi" (Wolves), under the command of Gen. Mirko Norac. He was afterward
promoted to the rank of general, and then underwent training for selected
Croatian officers and soldiers by U.S. military
instructors.
In February 1999, Gen. Agim Ceku resigned from the Croatian Army and came to
Kosovo, where he joined the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). He was
appointed commander of the KLA on May 14, 1999, replacing Sulejman Selimi,
nicknamed "the Sultan," who had held the post owing to political influence
and had no military training. When the KLA, under pressure from
KFOR,transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), Ceku was appointed
its
commander in chief. Serbian judicial agencies put out an international
wanted notice for Ceku four years ago, charging him with genocide against
Serbs during Kosovo conflict, both before and after the arrival of KFOR in
the province.
The indictment charges Ceku, as KLA commander, based on command
responsibility, with killing 669 Serbs and 18 members of other national
minorities, wounding or severely injuring 518 people, and with 584
abductions.
Based on the findings of the investigation, the Belgrade police in 2002
issued a wanted notice for Ceku through Interpol. Ceku was arrested two
times on the basis of the Serbian judiciary's investigation. The first
arrest was in October 2003, at the airport in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and the
second at the Budapest Airport, in February 2004.
The Slovenian police released Ceku based on a memo from then-UNMIK chief
Harri Holkeri, while the Hungarian border police released Ceku from custody
as a Croatian citizen.
Ceku is married and has two sons, who live in Croatia.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
