KOSOVO PARLIAMENT BEGAN ITS FIRST SESSION

PRISTINA, Dec 10 (Hina) - The Kosovo assembly began its first session in Pristina Monday, with 120 MPs participating and 170 domestic and foreign journalists covering the session. The assembly's president is Nexad Daci of Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic Alliance of Kosovo. Opening the session, UN mission in Kosovo civil administrator Hans Haekkerup said the assembly would be responsible not only for the interests of its electorate, but the future of Kosovo in its entirety. Haekkerup conveyed a message by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said the inauguration of the Kosovo assembly meant the transfer of authorities from the UN onto interim self- government institutions. Special tasks include overcoming the past and creating the culture of political tolerance and constructive compromise, Annan said. After Haekerrup asked the parties to propose assembly presidency candidates, representatives of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK), headed by Hashim Thaqui, walked out on the session. They believe the presidency cannot be elected before Albanian parties have reached a coalition agreement. They also wanted to protest against the fact that the family of Adem Jashari, a Kosovo Liberation Army commander, had not been invited to the session. After Daci was elected assembly president, the DPK bench returned. (hina) np