Kosovo Leaders Urged to Explain Security Chief's Resignation

Haxhi Shala, head of the Kosovo parliamentary committee in charge of overseeing the Kosovo intelligence agency, has said President Hashim Thaci or Prime Minister Isa Mustafa have a duty to explain the sudden resignation of Agron Selimaj, who headed the agency since 2015.

"President Thaci or Prime Minister Mustafa must make a statement about this. If they do not talk, maybe the [former] chief himself will," he told BIRN.

"If he does not talk either, the committee has to clarify why, in such an unstable security situation in Kosovo, the security institution's [top] official has resigned," Shala added.

Selimaj suddenly resigned on January 27, amid growing tension between Kosovo and Serbia, which soared in mid-January when Serbia sent a train painted in the colours of the Serbian flag and bearing the words "Kosovo is Serbian" in 21 languages from Belgrade to the northern, Serb-run part of the town of Mitrovica.

"After a long time I believe now is the time for me and my family to start a new chapter in our lives," Selimaj wrote in his resignation letter sent to Thaci and Mustafa.

Despite Selimaj's stated reasoning for quitting, theories about hidden reasons for his resignation continue to circulate.

Shala said that only days before his resignation, Selimaj reported on the agency's work to the committee. The fact that Selimaj had now abruptly resigned raised concerns about "what is happening to the agency at this moment", he said.

"The director of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency was an extraordinarily good collaborator with this committee and never expressed any sign of dissatisfaction or anything that would lead him to resign," Shala noted.

Sources within Kosovo institutions told BIRN there are currently four potential...