Glas Javnosti, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
December 23, 2000

Who is this man

Hans Haekkerup

(Merry fellow)

Beginnings - Born on December 3, 1945 in the town of Fredericksburg near
Copenhagen in Denmark. His father, Pier Haekkerup, was a politician,
minister of foreign affairs and minister of economics. His mother,
Greta, was a member of parliament. Since his brother, Klaus, is also a
politician, it seems the only business this family knows is politics.

Childhood - Had none of the problems of his contemporaries in
Montenegro, where heads of households are known to have told their adult
sons on the way to the polling booths: "Lest public argument break out
among us [an unthinkable disgrace], we will all vote as as I say." All
members of the family are members of Socialdemocracy.

Nationality - Dane.

Religious affiliation - Not known, at least not officially.

Education - Degree in politics and economics in Copenhagen in 1973.

Career - In 1966 achieved the title of "official for language" -
Russian, no more, no less. In fact, while still a student, he served his
military term - in the national guard and during the process became an
expert in his Soviet comrades (the man was involved in intelligence
work, more precisely, analysis). He received a medal (Prince Lowe
Regiment) and a promotion to the rank of first lieutenant. Then he
devoted himself to the family business - politics, of course.

He began his career in the ministry for social issues (in Denmark,
unlike in Yugoslavia, politicians truly wanted to improve the world).
After three years of social issues, he transferred to the ministry of
labor (1976). He became a member of parliament for the first time in
1979 where he was involved in several committees; worthy of mention are
those where parliamentarians (including himself) were engaged in the
control of the Danish secret police and foreign affairs. In the
meanwhile, he found himself in the Center for Human Rights where he
became active in 1984 and has remained active to this day. He was
appointed minister of defense in 1993 and this was, until recently, his
most important role. Whether Mr. Haekkerup will outdo himself and
dedicate even more to his new role - that of civil administrator in
Kosovo, time will tell. For his part, he has said that he cannot wait to
assume this position, that it will be the end of his political career,
and that he will move to Pristina will his second wife and young son.

One cannot deny his efforts of many years in NATO, of which he was a
part, as a member of the Danish delegation, since 1978. In 1992 he was
elected as chairman of the Socialist group with the task of presenting a
report on "What is the Northern Security Task Group doing". That is
probably how he met and became friends with many of the familiar faces
of this pact, including Javier Solana, William Perry, William Cohen (the
U.S. secretary of defense) and George Robertson (with whom he shares a
passion for the function of secretary general of NATO).

Party affiliation: A member of SD from his days a youth. He was a member
of SD for the district of Ostbanekresen.

Items of interest - Anyone who has had the opportunity of visiting
Denmark has also had the opportunity to hear for himself that Mr.
Haekkerup was a very respected politician. The average citizen of
Yugoslavia who did not have to go "over yonder"; Haekkerup, thanks to
the television screen, came to us. With the destruction of Yugoslavia,
unfortunately. "I think that our participation in the peacekeeping
forces is of extreme importance," he said in November 1995, thinking at
the time of "reconciling the irreconcilable Bosnia".

Then he elaborated: "The military action by the West against the Bosnian
Serbs, undertaken just now, should have taken place long ago. A
comprehensive air strike on Serb positions in the region of Sarajevo, in
coordination with Rapid Reaction Forces, would have been a good response
to Serb attacks but the UN waited too long. The UN should have reacted
sooner, for example, after the attack by the Bosnian Serbs on
Srebrenica, because I am convince that NATO action would have forced the
Serbs of Bosnia to return to the negotiating table." Friends know him as
a merry fellow who can eat and drink, likes to carry a tune and arrives
at work in the morning as fresh as a daisy just the same.

He has two grown sons from his first marriage who served in Danish
troops in UNPROFOR and one little one from a second marriage.

Zorica Vulic

Translated by S. Lazovic (Dec. 25, 2000)