KOSOVO ALBANIANS STILL WITHOUT AGREEMENT ON DIVISION OF POWER

PRISTINA, Jan 16 (Hina) - Despite mediation by the head of the US Office in Pristina, the heads of leading Kosovo Albanian parties on Wednesday again failed to reach agreement on the division of power. The head of the US Office, John Menzies, held separate talks with Ibrahim Rugova, Hashim Thaqi, Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo parliament speaker Nexhat Daci and Kosovo Serb representative Rada Trajkovic but the talks yielded no concrete results. The talks will continue by the start of next week so that the sides could reach a compromise with regard to the election of the Kosovo president. Representatives of Kosovo's parliamentary parties have failed to elect the Kosovo president in three parliamentary votes. The largest parliamentary party, Ibrahim Rugova's Kosovo Democratic Alliance, is still offering its partners five out of seven ministerial posts in the Kosovo government that should be held by Albanians as well as the posts of deputy prime minister and deputy parliament speaker. The Democratic Party of Kosovo, headed by Hashim Thaqi, and Ramush Haradinaj's Alliance for Kosovo's Future urge the division of three chief posts in the province - the posts of president, prime minister and parliament speaker. An official of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Fatmir Limaj, told reporters on Wednesday evening that if the Kosovo Democratic Alliance wanted the post of prime minister, Kosovo's president should be elected from among the ranks of his party. (hina) rml