[ALBSA-Info] {QIKSH «ALBEUROPA»} NEWS: BBC/AP/Reuters: Albanian PM in Kosovo (6 December, 2000)

[Wolfgang Plarre]

http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1058000/1058239.stm

Wednesday, 6 December, 2000, 16:19 GMT 

Albanian PM in Kosovo

The prime minister of Albania, Ilir Meta, has been visiting Kosovo where
he was opening the offices of an Albanian insurance company. 
    Despite the unofficial nature of his visit, Mr Meta had talks with
the United Nations administrator in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner. 
    They discussed recent clashes between Serb forces and
ethnic-Albanian militants of the UCPBM group in the buffer zone set up
by NATO-led forces between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia. 
    On Wednesday, the militants attacked Yugoslav army forces for the
first time. 
    Previously they had focused on Serbian police units. 
    Mr Meta backed what he called the national rights of ethnic
Albanians in the buffer zone, but he also urged dialogue as soon as
possible between the two opposing sides to avoid further violence. 

>From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
_______________________________________________________________________
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001206/wl/yugoslavia_kosovo_52.html

Wednesday December 6 11:48 AM ET

Albania Prime Minister in Kosovo 

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer 

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Albania's prime minister made his first
visit to Kosovo on Wednesday, urging moderation in settling differences
between Serbs and ethnic Albanians, shortly after fighting flared in a
tense buffer zone.
    For a second straight night, ethnic Albanian militants fired on Serb
police in the zone between Serbia and Kosovo, a largely ethnic Albanian
province of Serbia, a Serbian television station reported. Serbia is the
main republic of Yugoslavia.
    There were no casualties in the incidents, which YUINFO-TV said
occurred late Tuesday in the village of Lucane. YUINFO-TV said about two
dozen ethnic Albanian rebels fired Kalashnikov rifles and
rocket-propelled grenades at Serb positions.
    The shootings have strained an unofficial cease-fire between
Yugoslav forces and the rebels. Last month, the insurgents killed four
Serb policemen when they seized several strategic positions on the
Yugoslav side of the Kosovo boundary.
    Because Yugoslavia has no diplomatic ties with Albania, the visit of
Albanian Prime Minister Ilir Meta was unofficial. Meta was formally in
the province to open the offices of an Albanian insurance company.
    ``The visit is (at) his instigation,'' said Claire Trevena, a
spokesman for the United Nations (news - web sites), which runs the
province along with NATO (news - web sites). Meta met with chief U.N.
administrator Bernard Kouchner, who said the two discussed ways to
control the Kosovo-Albania border.
    Meta told reporters he backed the ``national rights of Albanians''
living in the buffer zone. He also urged dialogue between the hostile
sides ``as soon as possible, in order to avoid any (further) act of
violence.''
    In Belgrade on Wednesday, a key aide to Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica (news - web sites) said ``no means will be spared'' to drive
out the militants. The official, Zoran Djindjic, had previously warned
of an offensive against the rebels after Dec. 23 parliamentary
elections, unless NATO objected.
    Rada Trajkovic, a moderate Serb who sits on the U.N.-run provisional
council governing Kosovo, said she welcomed Meta ``in our country,
Serbia, but as someone who lives here, I have to say that politically,
his visit is not welcomed before Albania and Yugoslavia establish
diplomatic relations.''
    On Tuesday, Yugoslavia sought a U.N. Security Council meeting over
the buffer zone crisis. They demanded the withdrawal of ethnic Albanian
rebels from the area and urged NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo to
fulfill their obligations ``so the situation can be resolved in a
peaceful manner.''
    The United Nations and NATO took control of Kosovo in June 1999
after the Western alliance's 78-day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
That campaign was launched to stop a crackdown by former President
Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) against ethnic Albanian
separatists.
    The buffer zone was set up to prevent Yugoslav forces from
threatening the peacekeeping mission. Ethnic Albanian militants began
operating in the zone, exploiting the fact that only lightly armed Serb
police were permitted in the area. 

Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press.
_______________________________________________________________________
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001206/wl/albania_kosovo_dc_2.html

Wednesday December 6 12:19 PM ET

Albania PM Makes Unprecedented Kosovo Visit 

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - Albanian Prime Minister Ilir Meta made
an unprecedented visit to Kosovo on Wednesday, but a representative of
the province's Serb minority suggested he should not have come.
    Meta met both international and local officials in the provincial
capital Pristina. It was the first official-style visit by an Albanian
government leader to the majority ethnic Albanian province, still
legally part of Yugoslavia.
    Rada Trajkovic, a Serb member of the inter-ethnic Kosovo
Transitional Council (KTC), made clear she was not happy about his
visit, saying Tirana and Belgrade should first restore diplomatic ties
cut off during last year's NATO (news - web sites) air war.
    ``His visit is not politically welcome because they first have to
re-establish diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia,'' she told reporters
after Meta addressed the KTC, set up by the United Nations (news - web
sites) as a sort of mini-parliament in Kosovo.
    Kosovo is a de facto international protectorate following last
year's NATO bombing campaign, launched to halt Belgrade's repression of
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.
    Meta told Reuters last month that Albania was prepared to
re-establish diplomatic ties with Belgrade provided Yugoslavia remained
on the path of democratic reform.
    Yugoslavia cut relations because of Albania's support for the NATO
air war which forced Yugoslav forces from Kosovo. But the new government
of President Vojislav Kostunica (news - web sites) has been making
overtures to its Balkan neighbors.
    Meta also met the French head of the U.N.-led administration in
Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, and discussed cooperation in fighting
organized crime as well as agreements related to education, health and
culture.
    Hashim Thaci, leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, the main
political force to emerge from the Kosovo Liberation Army that fought
Serb rule in 1998-99, said the first official visit by an Albanian prime
minister was significant for Kosovo.
    ``The meeting with the KTC, also accepted by members of other
communities living in Kosovo, is the most positive step because Albania
is recognized also by members of other communities as a place that plays
an important, positive part in the development in the region,'' Thaci
told reporters.

Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc., and Reuters Limited.


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