Kosovo leader surrenders to The Hague tribunal

THE HAGUE - Kosovo's former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has surrendered to The Hague tribunal to face war crimes charges, a day after stepping down and winning praise for his prompt compliance with the court.

His wife by his side, the ethnic Albanian former rebel leader said farewell to 200 well-wishers chanting his name before boarding a German military plane at Kosovo's Slatina airport to fly to the Netherlands.

"Thanks very much for coming. Bye now," the 36-year-old told a throng of supporters.

Haradinaj is the most senior former Kosovo guerrilla to be indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague for alleged atrocities in the 1998-99 separatist war against Serb forces. He is considered a hero by many Kosovo Albanians.

The indictment against Haradinaj is sealed but media reports say it cites the murders of Serbs and Albanian collaborators. Haradinaj, who had been prime minister for only 100 days, declared on Tuesday that he was "entirely innocent."

Haradinaj is the first serving head of government since former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to be indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Milosevic has been on trial in The Hague since 2002.

Kosovo's government has called for Haradinaj's provisional release pending trial and offered legal assistance for his defence.

A source in the NATO-led peace force, KFOR, said two other suspects named in the same indictment were also on the flight.

One of the men, believed to be Haradinaj's cousin, surrendered on Wednesday morning (local time), while the other was transferred from a Kosovo prison where he was being held for crimes committed during the war, the source added.

TIGHT SECURITY

Haradinaj arrived at the tribunal's detention centre on the outskirts of The Hague amid high security with police guarding the entrance.

"He's arrived in our detention unit," the tribunal said as Haradinaj was taken into custody.

In Kosovo, British troops in armoured jeeps, reinforcing a NATO-led peace force, had secured the main intersections on the 11 km drive from Haradinaj's home in the capital, Pristina, before his departure amid fears of a violent backlash.

His former command zone in western Kosovo was quiet overnight while a few hundred students held a peaceful protest in the capital. German peacekeepers with responsibility for the western zone had set up vehicle checkpoints and taken "extra security measures", a NATO source and witnesses said.

A former nightclub bouncer in Switzerland, Haradinaj capped a remarkable rise to power in late 2004 when he was appointed prime minister of Serbia's UN-run province, which is set for independence negotiations this year.

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 11 weeks of NATO bombing drove out Serb forces in 1999. The Kosovo Liberation Army victory was marred by revenge attacks which provoked the flight of up to 200,000 Serb civilians from their religious heartland.

Haradinaj, former regional commander of the KLA, has urged Kosovars to keep up their struggle for independence, as the Albanian majority of close to 2 million people desires.

The United Nations, NATO and the European Union applauded Haradinaj's "responsible" move to go to The Hague and urged calm in the majority Albanian province, which was rocked by anti-Serb riots a year ago.

He had hoped to be at the helm when new talks on Kosovo's future began, but he won praise from the United Nations, NATO and the European Union for his decision to quit promptly upon receiving his indictment and stand trial.

- REUTERS