Kosovo seeks to fill Rugova vacuum

Kosovars light candles in Pristina, Kosovo, to pay tribute to Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova in Pristina yesterday. Rugova, president of Kosovo, died Saturday of lung cancer, just days before delicate talks on the province's future status. PHOTO: AFP

Rugova, whose strong leadership was seen as crucial in upcoming direct talks on Kosovo's future status, died of lung cancer on Saturday at the age of 61, leaving many in the province worried about the prospects of the ethnic Albanian push for independence.

His death forced the United Nations to postpone until early February the first face-to-face talks between Kosovo's Albanian leaders and Serbia that were scheduled to begin in the Austrian capital Vienna on Wednesday.

Legally still a part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since mid-1999, when the alliance drove out the forces of then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic due to grave human rights abuses in a crackdown against separatist Albanian rebels.