Former guerilla Ceku elected Kosovo PM

A former guerilla accused by Serbia of war crimes became premier of Kosovo yesterday, taking over the Albanian majority's bid for independence in a year of UN-mediated talks with Belgrade.

Agim Ceku, a 45-year-old career soldier who turned against the army that trained him, was endorsed as Prime Minister by 65 votes to 33 in the province's 120-seat Parliament.

"We want a democratic and tolerant Kosovo," said the ex-commander, who since the 1998-99 war has led a civil emergency force created to absorb the former rebels.

"The creation of the state of Kosovo is the will of its people," he told the assembly.

Mr Ceku led a unit of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the 1998-99 Albanian guerilla war for independence from Serbia which drew in Nato air power on the Albanian side and forced a bitter Serb retreat in the summer of 1999.

After nearly seven years under UN rule, Kosovo and Serbia opened talks last month to determine the future of the province.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said last week the international community should intervene to block Mr Ceku, "bearing in mind how much it wants the talks conducted properly".

Kosovo's UN governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, refused.

In a special message to the Serb minority, Mr Ceku said in Serbian: "Together we will create a state that guarantees freedom, equality and economic development for all regardless of ethnicity."

The talks, taking place in Vienna, are due to resume on March 17. Mr Ceku replaces Bajram Kosumi, who quit last week after criticism of his performance in meeting standards set by the West to create a functioning, multi-ethnic society - something diplomats say is crucial to clinching statehood. UN officials hope Mr Ceku, a powerful figure within the Albanian majority who also fought in Croatia's 1991-95 war for independence from Yugoslavia, will drive reforms, although his cabinet is almost unchanged from that of his predecessor.

Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo was made a de facto protectorate of the UN after 11 weeks of Nato bombing drove out Serb forces accused of atrocities against Albanians as they fought the KLA.

Mr Ceku's sudden switch to politics caused outrage in Belgrade, where Serbian authorities in 2002 issued a warrant for his arrest, accusing him of war crimes against Serbs.

Speaking in Vienna yesterday, Serbia's President Boris Tadic said Belgrade "has no influence on" the Kosovo premiership, Serbia's Beta news agency reported.

Mr Tadic said it was "more important what the Kosovo premier will do about people's lives in Kosovo". Non-Albanians "live in total uncertainty" he said, adding that he would personally be very satisfied if Mr Ceku can do something about that.

Ninety per cent of Kosovo's two million people are Albanians who demand their own state. Serbia says Kosovo, rich in Orthodox religious heritage, is sacred land and can never be independent.

Western powers have indicated they will steer the talks towards independence, but want the Kosovo Albanians to do more to improve the lives of the remaining 100,000 Serbs, a ghettoised minority targeted in revenge attacks following the war and harassed by sporadic violence since.