Saturday, January 21st, 2006...3:20 pm
Ibrahim Rugova
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The “Gandhi of the Balkans,” Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova, has died of lung cancer at the age of 61.
When the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav government stripped Kosovo of its autonomy, Rugova led an effort to form an independent Kosovar society, complete with it’s own schools and government institutions, to peacefully resist Slobodan Milošević’s regime.
Rugova was later elected president of the semi-autonomous Kosovar state that the UN now administers. His death unfortunately came on the eve of talks to address a permanent status for Kosovo, which will probably result in the independence that he dreamed of.
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