Fatmir Sejdiu

Fatmir Sejdiu
Sejdu in 2009
2nd President of Kosovo
In office 10 February 2006 – 27 September 2010
Prime Minister	Bajram Kosumi Agim Çeku Hashim Thaçi
Preceded by	Nexhat Daci (Acting)
Succeeded by	Jakup Krasniqi (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1951-10-23) 23 October 1951 (age 65) Pakashticë, FPR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo)
Political party	Democratic League
Spouse(s)	Nezafete Sejdiu
Alma mater	University of Prishtina
Religion	Islam

Fatmir Sejdiu listen  (born 23 October 1951) is a politician from Kosovo. He was the leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and was the first President of the Republic of Kosovo.

He was born in the small village of Pakashticë, Podujevo, FPR Yugoslavia. He finished the primary school and high school in Podujevë. On 1974, he graduated in the Faculty of Law of the University of Prishtina where he also received a doctorate. He served as a professor at the University of Pristina, teaching throughout his tenure as a Parliamentarian. He speaks Albanian, English, Serbian, and French.

Sejdiu was an early protester against Yugoslav authoritarian rule and had for many years in his academic office a portrait depicting himself and fellow political party leader Veton Surroi locking arms before the riot police. He has always been widely admired for being honest and fair in all his political dealings.

Due to persisting conflicts between the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the security forces of Yugoslavia, the Kosovo War broke out in 1996 between the two factions. Accusations of widespread abuse by government forces towards ethnic Albanians in 1999 ignited the second part of the war in which NATO forces unleashed a bombing campaign against the government. The war ended in mid-1999, and Kosovo was placed under a UN Protectorate of autonomy where Ibrahim Rugova became the president of the territory. President Sejdiu succeeded Rugova and became the first president of Kosovo when it declared independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008.

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