TIRANA: Kosovo President Hashim Thaci on Friday accused international justice of “rewriting history” after he was charged with war crimes linked to the 1990s conflict with Serbia by special prosecutors in The Hague.
Thaci said on Facebook he had landed in the Albanian capital Tirana and was on his way back to Kosovo where he will address his compatriots on Sunday.
“Nobody can rewrite the history of Kosovo!” he said in his first reaction to the charges.
Thaci was the former political leader of the ethnic Albanian guerillas — the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) — which launched a rebellion against Belgrade more than 20 years ago when Kosovo was a southern province of Serbia.
On Wednesday, special prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague accused Thaci and others of war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the 1998-99 war.
Until now Thaci’s only visible reaction was an update of the cover photo of his Facebook profile to feature the crest of the KLA.
In a Facebook message to his “sisters, brothers and wonderful friends,” Thaci, 52, said he would “address (them) on Sunday evening” from his office.
“I remain full of hope that the coming days will be the best for Kosovo and Albania,” he said.
After the bombshell announcement, Thaci canceled a planned trip to the US where he was set to discuss lingering tensions with Serbia.
Thaci has previously said he would comply with the court and that he is innocent and has “nothing to hide.”
The president and other suspects are accused of murder, enforced disappearance, persecution and torture against “hundreds of known victims of Kosovo Albanian, Serb, Roma, and other ethnicities and include political opponents.”
The charges still needs approval from a pre-trial judge but the prosecutors said they made the news public because Thaci and others have been trying to “obstruct the work” of the tribunal, which operates under Kosovo law but has international judges.
Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008, but Serbia still does not recognize the move.
Kosovo’s Thaci accuses international justice of ‘rewriting history’
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Kosovo’s Thaci accuses international justice of ‘rewriting history’
- Hashim Thaci: Nobody can rewrite the history of Kosovo! I remain full of hope that the coming days will be the best for Kosovo and Albania
- Special prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague accused Thaci and others of war crimes and crimes against humanity
Nigerian president vows security reset in budget speech
- Government plans to buy 'cutting-edge' equipment to boost the fighting capability of military
ABUJA: Nigeria’s president vowed a national security overhaul as he presented the government budget, allocating the largest share of spending to defense after criticism over the handling of the country’s myriad conflicts.
Nigeria faces a long-running insurgency in the northeast, while armed “bandit” gangs commit mass kidnappings and loot villages in the northwest, and farmers and herders clash in the center over dwindling land and resources.
President Bola Tinubu last month declared a nationwide security emergency and ordered mass recruitment of police and military personnel to combat mass abductions, which have included the kidnapping of hundreds of children at their boarding school.
He told the Senate that his government plans to increase security spending to boost the “fighting capability” of the military and other security agencies by hiring more personnel and buying “cutting-edge” equipment.
Tinubu promised to “usher in a new era of criminal justice” that would treat all violence by armed groups or individuals as terrorism, as he allocated 5.41 trillion naira ($3.7 billion) for defense and security.
Security officials and analysts say there is an increasing alliance between bandits and extremists from Nigeria’s northeast, who have in recent years established a strong presence in the northwestern and central regions.
“Under this new architecture, any armed group or gun-wielding non-state actors operating outside state authority will be regarded as terrorists,” said Tinubu, singling out, among others, bandits, militias, armed gangs, armed robbers, violent cult groups, and foreign-linked mercenaries.
He said those involved in political or sectarian violence would also be classified as terrorists.
On the economic front, Tinubu hailed his “necessary” but not “painless” reforms that have plunged Nigeria into its worst economic crisis in a generation.
He said inflation has “moderated” for eight successive months, declining to 14.45 percent in the last month from 24.23 percent in March this year.
He projected that the budget deficit will drop next year to 4.28 percent of GDP from around 6.1 percent of GDP in 2023, the year he came into office.
