RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 197, Part II, 18 October 2004

KOSOVAR LEADER EXPECTS INDEPENDENCE IN ONE YEAR. Ramush Haradinaj,
who heads the Alliance for the Future of Kosova (AAK), which is the
third largest ethnic Albanian party in Kosova's parliament, told
RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service in Prishtina on
17 October that he expects Kosova will be independent by the fall of
2005. He hopes that Kosova will achieve solid results in meeting the
international community's standards for the province by May 2005. At
that point, he added, Kosova and the international community can
reach an agreement on independence, which will take effect in the
fall. Haradinaj stressed that the clear goal of the ethnic Albanian
parties and elected institutions is a democratic Kosova, even if the
behavior of some local Serbian politicians and those in Belgrade "has
led to confusion." Haradinaj said that he personally and the AAK will
do their part so that the local Serbs "can also be part of building a
democratic Kosova.... We are determined that difficulties will not
arise in regard to freedom of movement and the process of [refugee]
return," he added. PM