Former guerrilla commander Agim Ceku was nominated on Thursday
as Kosovo's new prime minister to succeed Bajram Kosumi.
Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu made the nomination based on his
constitutional powers and the agreement among the ruling coalition,
Sejdiu's office said in a statement.
Kosumi resigned on Wednesday, as his party Alliance for the
Future of Kosovo was not satisfied with his performance and
questioned his loyalty to the party.
Ceku, a 46-year-old career soldier, is the commander of the
Kosovo Protection Corps. He had been a commander of the Kosovo
Liberation Army during the Kosovo war.
The Kosovo parliament is expected to vote in its regular session
on March 16 about Ceku's nomination.
"If the parliament asks this from me, I am prepared to be the
new Kosovo premier," Ceku told a press conference in Pristina.
Under Kosovo's constitutional framework, if Ceku fails to get
majority support in the 120-seat parliament, President Sejdiu must
propose a new candidate within 10 days.
The leadership change is expected to affect the ongoing process
of defining Kosovo's future status.
Legally still part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United
Nations since mid-1999. The international community has expected a
deal reached on Kosovo's future status between Serbia and Kosovo's
pro-independence Albanian authorities at the end of this year.
(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2006)
