Pristina (Serbia): A former rebel leader is poised to become Kosovo's prime minister today, and has vowed to lead the troubled province to independence from Serbia this year. If confirmed in a parliamentary vote today, Hashim Thaci, 39,would head a coalition government that would try to steer the province through a declaration of independence, a course supported by United States and important European governments but fiercely opposed by Serbia and Russia.

Thaci, who guided the insurgency that ended Serbia s effective rule over Kosovo, would be the province's fifth prime minister since it came under UN administration. The UN took control of the province following NATO's 78-day bombing campaign in 1999,which ended a Serb crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians.

The province legally remains part of Serbia. Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo, which won the most votes in November elections, would govern alongside its main opponent, President Fatmir Sejdiu's Democratic League of Kosovo.

Today, Sejdiu was re-elected to his post as president, winning over an opposition candidate in the third round of the secret vote requiring a simple majority. Both parties support statehood for the province, whose population is more than 90 percent ethnic Albanian.

Jointly, the parties will hold 62 seats in the province s 120-seat assembly. Thaci has promised to make a declaration of independence his top priority, but has cautioned that any such move will be coordinated with the United States and the European Union.

Source : PTI