Rome - Kosovo's moderate ethnic Albanian leader, Mr Ibrahim Rugova, said he will step down as head of his party, the Kosovo Democratic League (LDK), and will retire from politics.
Mr Rugova said he was stepping down because he has been unable to unite his party.
"For this reason, I believe that my resignation is the only course to adopt for the good of the LDK," he said, in the statement released by representatives of his party in Italy.
"Some members of my party want to dissociate from the line of the LDK, only to support the hardline of the ex-UCK," he said using the local acronym for the former guerrilla movement the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
In Pristina, Mr Rugova's aide, MrSkender Hyseni, issued a denial that the party leader had decided to step down.
