OBIT of Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova, dies of lung cancer at 61

(21 Jan 2006)

1999 - exact location unknown
1. Wide shot of Serb military tanks during Kosovo war

Pristina airport, July 30, 1999
2. Ibrahim Rugova walking down the steps of an Italian private jet in Pristina after spending months there in refuge during the NATO airstrikes

Pristina, December 15, 1999
3. Various of Rugova with Dr. Bernard Kouchner, UN Special Representative in Kosovo, Hashim Thaci - Kosovo Liberation Army leader signing agreement for the creation of Kosovo Transitional Council, a formal body gathering of all local leaders
4. Close-up of signing document
5. Various of clapping and Rugova shaking hands
6. Rugova leaving

Pristina, March 4, 1999
7. Rugova's arrival for "Friday press conference"
8. Rugova with Pope John Paul II
9. Various of Rugova addressing press conference

September 19, 2003
10. Various of Rugova hugging former US President Bill Clinton during university ceremony

Pristina, October 27, 2000
11. Various of crowd cheering and chanting at the opening of the first election rally for municipal elections
12. Mid shot of crowd holding Rugova's photo and chanting Rugova
13. Rugova waving at crowd during election campaign
14. Rugova shaking hands with children

October 23, 2004
15. Various of people shaking hands with Rugova before he casts his vote in the last general election he stood in
16. Various of Rugova voting

Pristina, September 5, 2005
17. Various of Rugova announcing that he has lung cancer
18. Various of people watching Rugova's announcement on television in cafe

(FIRST RUN 1430 ME EUROPE PRIME NEWS)
Pristina, November 10, 2005
19. Various of Rugova meeting French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy at his last official meeting

Pristina, November 14, 2005
20. Various of Rugova turning on Christmas lights in Pristina at his last public appearance

STORYLINE:

Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova, who had been suffering from lung cancer, died on Saturday, Kosovo officials close to the president said.

He was 61.

The flag at Rugova's hillside residence in Pristina was lowered to half staff and tearful staff, bodyguards and neighbours gathered outside his home.

Pristina's streets were empty, with people listening to their radios and watching television screens.

Rugova, whose election in 2002 made him the province's first president, came to embody ethnic Albanians' struggle for independence from Serbia.

He was officially diagnosed with lung cancer last September, and had been a chain-smoker until then.

In August 2004, Rugova was flown to a US military base in Germany for medical treatment after the flu forced him to reduce his activities in the province.

Rugova's death leaves a vacuum in the political scene at a crucial time.

The province is embarking on the delicate process of negotiating a solution that its ethnic Albanian majority hopes will result in full independence - although its minority Serbs want Kosovo to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.

The first formal UN-mediated talks on Kosovo's future had been postponed until February due to Rugova's death, said the spokeswoman for the UN team leading talks.

Rugova has been Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leader since the early 1990s, when he led a non-violent movement against the policies of then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic targeting ethnic Albanians.

Until recently, Rugova was at the helm of the Democratic League of Kosovo, the biggest political party in the province which has won two general
elections since the disputed province came under UN administration in 1999.





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