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Ramush Haradinaj

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Leader

Former Prime Minister of Kosovo

Ramush Haradinaj is a Kosovo Albanian politician and the leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK). He served as the third Prime Minister of Kosovo, with his first term from 2004 to 2005 and his second term from 2017 to 2019. Haradinaj is also a former officer and leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). 

After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Haradinaj became the KLA's commander for western Kosovo. Following the conflict, he transitioned to politics but resigned due to charges by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was acquitted of all charges on 3 April 2008. 

Following NATO's entry into Kosovo in 1999, the KLA was transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), where Haradinaj served as deputy commander under Agim Çeku. He retired from the KPC on 11 April 2000 to pursue a political career. With the support of former communist leader Mahmut Bakalli, Haradinaj founded the AAK on 29 April 2000 and was elected its president. He was subsequently nominated as Prime Minister in 2004. 

In February 2009, Haradinaj mediated peace talks between the Ugandan Muslim rebel group Allied Democratic Forces and the central government in Kampala. On 10 November 2012, he was awarded the Skanderbeg's Order by Albanian President Bujar Nishani. 

After the 11 June 2017 elections, Haradinaj was re-elected as Prime Minister on 9 September 2017, leading a coalition government known as the PANA Coalition. He resigned on 19 July 2019 after being summoned for questioning by the Specialist Prosecutor's Office in The Hague. Similar legal challenges occurred in April 2008 and November 2012, but he was acquitted by both the ICTY and the UN tribunal. 

Haradinaj attended law school at the University of Pristina from 2000 to 2004. 

 

 

Baidoa, Somalia

Makeshift, temporary shelter made of plastic and clothing at a refugee center in Baidoa, Somalia.