Kosovo’s Thaci takes on third office of power

Record ID: 106939

  • Title: Kosovo’s Thaci takes on third office of power
  • Date: 7th April 2016
  • Summary: PRISTINA, KOSOVO (APRIL 7, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** OUTGOING KOSOVO PRESIDENT, ATIFETE JAHJAGA, AND NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT, HASHIM THACI, ENTERING PARLIAMENT CHAMBER VARIOUS OF JAHJAGA/THACI SHAKING HANDS WITH MP'S SESSION IN PROGRESS THACI WALKING TO PODIUM TO TAKE OATH (SOUNDBITE) (Albanian) NEWLY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF KOSOVO, HASHIM THACI, SAYING (RECITING OATH): "I swear I will fulfill all my obligations with conscience and responsibility." VARIOUS OF MP'S APPLAUDING JOURNALISTS/AUDIO OF STONE HITTING WINDOW WINDOW BEING HIT BY STONES FROM OUTSIDE OF PARLIAMENT END OF THE SESSION THACI BEING CONGRATULATED BY MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AND PRIME MINISTER ISA MUSTAFA PRISTINA, KOSOVO (APRIL 6, 2016) (REUTERS) WORKERS PREPARING THE SCENE FOR PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION CEREMONY WORKERS WASHING THE STATUE OF ALBANIAN NATIONAL HERO "SCANDERBEG"
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2016 17:12
  • Keywords: Thaci Kosovo president
  • Location: PRISTINA, SKENDERAJ, KOSOVO
  • City: PRISTINA, SKENDERAJ, KOSOVO
  • Country: Kosovo
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0014CDCM61
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Unfazed by the thuds of rocks thrown at the shatter-proof windows of the parliament chamber, Hashim Thaci switched from his job as foreign minister to his new position as the country's president during a swearing-in ceremony on Thursday (April 7).
    Protesters invisible to the television cameras filming the ceremony inside hurled stones at the parliament building, while opposition parties boycotted the event underlining a deep political crisis besetting the Balkan country.
    Thaci, who led a guerrilla insurgency against Serbian forces in 1998-99, was elected president by parliament in late February despite protesters throwing petrol bombs outside while opposition legislators released tear gas inside.
    Hashim Thaci, 48 is one of the key political leaders of Kosovo in the last two decades. He began working for the Kosovo Albanian cause in his late teens, becoming head of the students' union in 1991. In 1995, he joined the large Albanian diaspora in Switzerland, studying history and international relations in Zurich.
    A native of the Drenica region of Kosovo, Thaci returned from abroad and became one of the senior figures of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), where he emerged as a voice of reason when negotiating with western powers following the war with Serbia.
    Thaci was Kosovo's prime minister when it declared independence from Serbia in 2008 until 2014, when parliamentary elections resulted in a six-month deadlock that was resolved by a power sharing agreement with the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), leaving him with the post of foreign minister.
    He will serve a five-year term as president, a largely ceremonial role, but faces a number of political obstacles where his political prowess will be tested, analyst Halil Matoshi believes.
    "He (Thaci) knows how to combine his political pragmatism with clandestine methods. This way he managed to defeat all his political opponents within his organization, the People's Movement of Kosovo, also within his political party that was established after the war. He was able also to defeat his political opponents from opposition parties," Matoshi said, adding that the key challenges for Thiaci will be winning over the opposition and voters to accept the unpopular EU-brokered talks with Serbia and the possibility of an international special court to try senior KLA fighters for war crimes and post-war offences being set up in The Hague this year.
    The opposition in the mostly ethnic Albanian country criticizes Thaci for pushing forward an EU-brokered agreement in 2015 that gives a small Serb minority more power over local government decisions and raises the possibility of financing from Belgrade.
    For the last six months they organised street protests and repeatedly set off tear gas in parliament against the deal with Serbia. In January, protesters set the government building on fire.
    Deputy head of the main opposition party "Vetevendosje", Glauk Konjufca, says this is not the only reason his party opposes Thaci.
    "Let's say that you can measure success on how you reduced poverty and unemployment in your country. How you developed your country, is there any development and representing Kosovo in the international stage and how you fight corruption in your country. I don't think that Hashim Thaci can, let's say, identify himself with these kinds of successes. He is just a political machine interested just for keeping power for himself," he said.
    Kosovo declared independence almost a decade after NATO air strikes drove out Serbian security forces accused of killing and expelling ethnic Albanian civilians during a counter-insurgency war. Kosovo's independence is recognized by more than 100 countries, although not by Serbia.
    Many Kosovo Albanians believe last year's accord with Serbia could erode its hard-won sovereignty, though the agreement's status is unclear after a Kosovo constitutional court ruling in December that parts of it breach the country's laws.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register