[A-PAL] A-PAL newsletter(urgent) 3/7/02

[Alice Mead]

A-PAL (ALBANIAN PRISONER ADVOCACY)
March 7, 2002



                            A-PAL URGENT UPDATE

Three weeks before the deadline set by the US Congress last December 
there is still no official information about when the remaining 167 
Albanian prisoners will return to Kosova. Even the number of 
prisoners remains unclear (200 according to ICRC, 155 according to 
the EU and UNMIK, and 175 according to Svilanovic).

The implication in Foreign Minister Svilanovic's latest quote in B92 
is that the conditioning of aid relates only to the war criminal 
extraditions to the Hague, saying that acceptance into Council of 
Europe will depend on the transfer of prisoners. This is not true. 
The conditioning of US aid includes the transfer of the Albanians to 
UNMIK by March 31, 2002.

We are dismayed by evidence of further equivocation at this point, as 
once more Serbia/FRY officials try to downplay and delay cooperation 
on the prisoner issue.

            They all must be in Kosova by March 31, 2002.

*******************************************************************************


on Kosovalive-website 06-Mar-2002 18:05
http://kosovalive.com/en/index_en.htm

Steiner to Discuss Issue of Albanians Held in Serbia Prisons with
Serbian Deputy PM

PRISHTINA (KosovaLive) - Officials of the United Nations administration
in Kosova said Tuesday that the Head of UNMIK, Michael Steiner will meet
the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister, Nebojsa Covic on Wednesday in
Prishtina to discuss the return of ethnic Albanian prisoners from Serbia
to Kosova by the end of March. more...
_______________********************************************

>B92, 3/7/02
>
>Foreign minister sees new extraditions by end of March
>19:23 BELGRADE, Thursday – Yugoslavia will extradite more war crimes
>suspects to the tribunal in The Hague by the end of this month, Foreign
>Minister Goran Svilanovic predicted today.
>
>Svilanovic told Radio Yugoslavia that Belgrade would cooperate with the
>tribunal regardless of whether it succeeds in adopting legislation to
>regulate the procedure, as preferred by President Vojislav Kostunica.
>
>"We have to meet our obligations, and the transfer of the indictees is the
>only thing that our cooperation with the Hague Tribunal is being measured
>on,” said Svilanovic. He urged those “hindering” the process to heed this.
>
>The foreign minister warned that time was running out to meet the March 31
>deadline set by Congress in the US. Capitol Hill has threatened to withhold
>much-needed aid to Yugoslavia if it fails to cooperate with the tribunal.
>
>Svilanovic repeated his aim to take Yugoslavia into the Council of Europe
>but warned that the failure to release a number of Albanians held in Serbian
>prisons could prove to be an obstacle – albeit “an inherited one.”
>
>According to the foreign minister, of the 2100 Albanian prisoners held in
>Serbia before the fall of the former regime, 175 remain. The problem will be
>sorted out between the UN administration in Kosovo and Belgrade’s
>Coordinating Centre, said Svilanovic.
>
>As for the Partnership for Peace, “personnel” remains the only obstacle to
>the Yugoslav Army joining, he said. Svilanovic has made clear his
>dissatisfaction with General Nebojsa Pavkovic’s continued tenure as chief of
>staff. He predicted the issue would be “overcome.” (Beta)
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