[ALBSA-Info] Albania PM: End Kosovo Violence/Kosovo Albanians, Serbs to Rally against Violence

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

#1.
Albania PM:  End Kosovo Violence

By Barry Schweid

WASHINGTON (AP) - Amid lavish praise from Secretary of State Madeleine 
Albright, the young prime minister of Albania called Wednesday for an end to 
violence in Kosovo by both Serbs and ethnic Albanians. 

With the province preparing for October elections, Prime Minister Ilir Meta 
blamed Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for inspiring acts of violence 
by Serbs. But he said ``Albanian elements'' not interested in stability and 
democracy also were at fault. 

``The Albanian government condemns these actions of violence,'' Meta said at 
a joint news conference with Albright at the State Department. ``The best 
that Albanians can do for themselves in Kosovo is to stay away from repeating 
the same acts that Serbs did against them in the past and they are continuing 
to commit in the present.'' 

The future of the province is unresolved. Serbs want to remain part of 
Yugoslavia while ethnic Albanians seek independence. 

Yugoslavia has protested to the U.N. Security Council against an Albanian 
liaison office in Kosovo, saying it would fuel Albania's hopes of splitting 
the province from Yugoslavia. 

Ethnic Albanians are in the majority in Kosovo, their hopes bolstered by a 
U.S.-led air war against Yugoslavia last year to force the withdrawal of Serb 
troops and police believed responsible for widespread massacres. 

Albright on Wednesday again condemned Milosevic and said the Clinton 
administration supported political opponents trying to unseat him. 

``We see Prime Minister Meta leading his country into the future while 
Slobodan Milosevic drags his further into the past,'' Albright said. 

She heaped praise on the 31-year-old Meta, saying he represented an energetic 
new generation of Albanians. In 10 months in office, Albright said, Meta's 
government has restored public order, fought crime, worked with the country's 
neighbors and modernized the economy. 

Pledging to maintain U.S. aid to Albania at $30 million a year, Albright said 
the United States looked forward to a productive partnership in the months 
and years ahead. 

Meta, meanwhile, said the former communist country's conversion to private 
enterprise has been very successful and the judiciary, tax system and central 
administration also had been overhauled and reformed. 


#2. 
Kosovo Albanians, Serbs to Rally against Violence

By Andrew Gray

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Kosovo Albanians and Serbs agreed on 
Wednesday to declare September 9 a day of protest against the violence 
plaguing the province. 

Leaders of the two communities agreed on the date at a meeting under U.S. 
auspices. It followed a conference in the United States last month aimed at 
fostering reconciliation. 

The conference produced a joint declaration condemning violence but another 
spate of attacks, many with possible ethnic or political motives, followed 
hard on its heels. 

At Wednesday's follow-up meeting, ethnic Albanians and Serbs repeated their 
opposition to violence and specifically condemned a grenade attack last 
Friday which wounded 10 Serb children. 

Neither Kosovo's United Nations-led administration nor leaders of the 
province's ethnic Albanian majority issued a condemnation immediately after 
the attack -- a sign to some officials here of how endemic the violence has 
become. 

Father Sava Janjic, a spokesman for Kosovo's Serbian National Council, said th
e day of protest would include demonstrations by both Serbs and ethnic 
Albanians and joint media appearances by leaders of the two communities. 

``We'll try to confirm our strong determination to resist and fight against 
any form of violence in Kosovo,'' he told reporters after the meeting at the 
U.S. mission in the capital Pristina. 

Although NATO bombing and diplomatic pressure ended a war between Serbs and 
ethnic Albanians by driving Serb forces out of the province, the conflict has 
continued at a lower level in many communities with daily acts of violence 
and intimidation. 

Wednesday's meeting was attended by Ibrahim Rugova, the ethnic Albanian 
leader who heads the province's largest political party, the Democratic 
League of Kosovo. 

SOME KEY PLAYERS ABSENT 

The absence of several other key political players in Kosovo, however, may 
raise some questions about the clout of the decisions taken at the meeting. 

Hashim Thaci, leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, was not on the list 
of participants. He has been abroad recently and was not thought to have 
returned yet. 

Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Serb community in the northern city of 
Mitrovica who claims to represent far more Serbs in Kosovo than anyone else, 
was another notable omission. 

Many international officials view Ivanovic as a hardliner and he says he has 
not been invited to take part in the reconciliation process sponsored by the 
U.S. Institute of Peace. 

Christopher Dell, the head of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Kosovo, stressed 
only local people could create peace, not the international authorities which 
have run the province as a de facto protectorate since June last year. 

``The violence is not going to end until the people of Kosovo decide that 
it's time to end it,'' he said. 

``As the international community, it is extremely difficult for us to get 
inside of the local society and understand all the currents and all the 
inter-relationships of what's really in play,'' Dell said.