15 March 2005

U.S., International Groups Condemn Attack on Kosovo Leader
Statements issued by State Department, United Nations, OSCE

By Louise Fenner
Washington File Staff Writer

The United States strongly condemns an assassination attempt against Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova, saying, “violence in any form will not be tolerated and can only hurt Kosovo's future.”

The perpetrators must be apprehended and tried as soon as possible, added State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli during the March 15 regular department briefing.

Rugova escaped unharmed from an assassination attempt in Pristina March 15 as he was traveling to a meeting with visiting Javier Solana, secretary-general of the Council of the European Union. A bomb in a roadside garbage can was detonated by remote control as the president’s motorcade passed by.

The United States joined the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations, and all of the Balkan countries in expressing outrage over the attempt to kill Rugova.

“We are encouraging the leadership of Kosovo not to let this incident derail their commitment to forming a new government and continuing to implement the standards, and we will continue to support them as they prepare for the comprehensive review later this year,” said Ereli.

He was referring to an international review later this year of Kosovo's progress toward meeting U.N. benchmarks for political, economic and security reforms – the so-called “Standards for Kosovo.”

Also speaking out on the explosive attack against Rugova’s convoy was Soren Jessen-Petersen, special representative of the U.N. secretary-general in Kosovo.

Jessen-Petersen said such actions constitute an attack against the democratic institutions of Kosovo, and he expressed confidence that the recent examples of democratic maturity in Kosovo reflect a resilience that would enable Kosovo institutions to weather such acts of violence.

"Such acts do not have the support of the larger population in Kosovo and they will not succeed in derailing Kosovo's steady progress towards implementation of standards and towards the final status talks later this year," he said in a March 15 statement.

The OSCE chairman-in-office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, said, “on behalf of the entire OSCE I fully condemn what appears to be a deliberate attack on the elected leader of Kosovo, at such a sensitive time in its development."

In a statement, Rupel said he welcomed the peaceful manner in which the people of Kosovo have faced the recent events. "Any attempt to derail the democratic progress of the province must not be allowed to succeed. I urge the people of Kosovo to continue in the same responsible manner," he said.

He pledged the OSCE’s continued support for strengthening democracy and stability in Kosovo.

Ambassador Pascal Fieschi, head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, said “such acts of violence, whether they be on President Rugova or any individual person, for any reason, are to be condemned. Violence has no role in a democratic society, but only damages it."

He said he believes that President Rugova “will not be discouraged from continuing his work and moving society forward. In fact, this act of violence should impel the people of Kosovo and the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government to recommit themselves to the tasks before them."

"The people of Kosovo should look forward to a future in which violence is not used to convey a message and advance political aims," Fieschi said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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