Adem Demaci

Adem Demaci

"Demaci, until recently the longtime political leader of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army, is not only alive and well here in the capital of Kosovo but walks the streets each day."

"The chief opponent of the peace accord, as framed in Rambouillet, is Adem Demaci, the KLA's political representative until his resignation on 2nd March. Demaci wanted the accord to call explicitly for a popular referendum at the end of three years, instead of its more vaguely-worded pledge to “determine a mechanism for a final settlement....on the basis of the will of the people and the opinions of the relevant authorities.” After listening to Demaci's arguments, a number of rebel commanders telephoned the chateau outside Paris, where the talks were being held, to voice objections to the deal. These calls appear to have particularly influenced Hashim Thaci, head of the ethnic Albanian delegation, who was sentenced in absentia to 22 years in prison for terrorist offensives by the Yugoslav courts. As a result, Thaci encouraged other delegates to oppose the accord and raised objections up to the final minutes of the negotiations. Thaci's actions took Western diplomats by surprise, as his comments earlier in the talks had led the diplomats to conclude that the KLA would accept the accord...

"Over the past few months, the ideological disagreements and personal animosities, particularly between the moderate LDK leader Ibrahim Rugova and the KLA’s Adem Demaci, have also served to weaken the political voice of the Kosovo Albanians. As a result, international mediators have gone to considerable lengths to try to persuade rival ethnic Albanian groups to form a united negotiating team to participate in peace talks. It was not, however, until the involvement of the Albanian government at the beginning of this year that a breakthrough occurred and the KLA agreed to participate, along with other Kosovo Albanian political groups, in peace negotiations. In January, the Socialist-led coalition Albanian government of Premier Pandeli Majko invited a number of Kosovo Albanian politicians to Tirana in an effort to form a united negotiating team. A solution to the Kosovo crisis is of critical importance to Tirana for a number of reasons other than finally solving the emotive ‘Albanian National Question’."