Kosovan chaos closer

With Kosovo’s likely Prime Minister Hashim Thaci threatening to declare unilateral independence for the Serb province, the sponsors of Kosovar separatism have been put into a spin.

Thaci’s assurance that no declaration will be made “without coordination with our partners Washington and Brussels" will doubtless relieve those who have offered little incentive to Kosovans to compromise with their Serb neighbours but now consider it inopportune that partially reformed gang leaders should display their assertiveness before it suits those who have fostered it.

Thaci himself led the terror group the KLA and was an organiser in the Drenica Group, which provided finances through crime, controlling between 10-15% of criminal activities in the province. The Group were involved in smuggling arms, stolen cars, oil and cigarettes, as well as prostitution and had links with international criminal groups in Albania, the Czech republic and Macedonia. Thaci’s sister is married to Sejdija Bajrush, one of the leaders of the notorious Albanian mafia.

There is little wonder that the Council of Europe attributed an “alarmingly low” turnout at the election in which Thaci’s party has topped the poll, to "a profound dissatisfaction among the population" which springs from the perceived corruption of the region’s leaders. Kosovo’s Serb minority boycotted the election altogether.

These are the same leaders into whose control the US and some European leaders are preparing to deliver the sole responsibility for Kosovo’s government.