[ALBSA-Info] Today's Articles on Albanian Issues, September 7, 2001

[National Albanian American Council - NAAC]

 National Albanian American Council
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For Your Information
September 7, 2001

REUTERS

New Albanian government formed after elections   
TIRANA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Albanian President Rexhep Meidani nominated on Friday the new coalition government of Prime Minister Ilir Meta, whose ruling Socialists won general elections more than two months ago. 

Parliamentary approval of the government, expected on Monday, is seen as a formality because of the Socialists' majority in the assembly. 

Meta's 22-member cabinet includes for the first time in the Balkan country's history a female foreign minister, Socialist Arta Dade. 

Meta, who first became prime minister in 1999, has won international praise for successful privatisations, improvements to Albania's dilapidated road network and his firm opposition to ethnic Albanian violence in neighbouring Macedonia. 

The 32-year-old premier told Reuters in a recent interview that resolving energy shortages and bringing the country closer to the rest of Europe would be among his priorities over the next four years. 

Albania's elections were held in two rounds in June and July but the formation of a new government was delayed by a series of vote re-runs and the selection process for a prime ministerial candidate by the victorious Socialists. 

They won 73 of the 140 seats and dominate the single-chamber assembly with the help of 13 seats held by four smaller parties also included in the coalition government -- the Social Democrats, the Agrarian Party, the Democratic Alliance Party and the Union for Human Rights Party. 

The opposition Democrat-led Union for Victory coalition has 46 seats. However, the Union has accused the Socialists of manipulating the elections. It has not recognised the result and boycotted the new parliament's first session last Monday. 

The government includes a new environment ministry and also ministerial posts for European integration, energy, and minority rights. Ten members of the previous government stay on, but not all of them in the same posts. 

Former foreign minister Paskal Milo, a Social Democrat who won international praise for his moderate attitude during the 1999 conflict in neighbouring Kosovo, becomes state minister for European integration. 

Finance Minister Anastas Angjeli and Privatisation Minister Mustafa Muci retain their posts, reflecting what are seen as their successes in stabilising the economy and selling state-owned firms. 

ATA (Albanian News Agency)

Composition of the new Albanian Government

1. Prime Minister Ilir Meta 
2. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Skender Gjinushi 
3. Minister for Foreign Affairs Arta Dade 
4. Minister for Public Order Ilir Gjoni 
5. Minister of Defence Pandeli Majko 
6. Minister of Justice Sokol Nako 
7. Minister of Finances Anastas Angjeli 
8. Minister for Public Economy and Privatisation Mustafa Muçi 
9. Minister for Economic Cooperation and Trade Ermelinda Meksi 
10. Minister for Public Affairs and Tourism Bashkim Fino 
11. Minister of Agriculture and Food Agron Duka 
12. Minister of Transport Maqo Lakrori 
13. Minister of Education and Science Ben Blushi 
14. Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Luan Rama 
15. Minister of Health Gjergj Koja 
16. Minister of Local Government and Decentralisation Arben Imami 
17. Minister of Environment Ethem Ruka 
18. Minister of State for European Integration Paskal Milo 
19. Minister of State for Energy Dritan Prifti 
20. Minister of State Ndre Legisi 
21. Minister of State Niko Kacalidha 
22. Minister of State Lufter Xhuveli 


NEW YORK TIMES

Rights Desired by Albanians Appear Closer in Macedonia
By CARLOTTA GALL
SKOPJE, Macedonia, Sept. 6 - After nearly a week of debate, Macedonia's Parliament voted today in favor of constitutional changes to grant the ethnic Albanian minority more rights, allowing NATO to resume its collection of weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels and setting the peace process back on track. 
The drawn-out debate had threatened to delay NATO's operation beyond its planned 30 days. The rebels are to hand in 3,300 weapons in three stages - about one-third have been collected so far - and the Macedonian Parliament will take three votes - today's was the first - to ratify constitutional and political reforms.
NATO immediately announced that the next weapons collection would take place on Friday morning.
But the delays and obstructions of the last six days have underlined the political opposition to the peace plan in the majority Slav assembly. 
In another move that may threaten the peace, members of Macedonia's Security Council today rejected a proposal to allow any international military force to take over after NATO's 30-day operation, the independent television station A1 reported, citing sources at the meeting.
European leaders are pondering how to provide security for unarmed international monitors needed to guarantee the rights of the ethnic Albanian minority foreseen under the peace plan.
President Boris Trajkovski raised the idea of an international military force, A1 reported, but all the other ministers present said that NATO should leave after 30 days and that no other force would be needed.
In Parliament, legislators were critical of the government and of the Western-mediated plan, which they said had forced them to give in to rebel violence and accept the loss of control of one-fifth of the country.
They accused the president of treachery and urged NATO to leave so they could deal with the insurgency with force.
The leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Petar Gosev, speaking for the Slavic Macedonian majority, noted that the plan might not stave off the worse alternative, war. "Ninety percent of the Macedonian population does not support the agreement, but a lot of people understand that the other solution is maybe worse," he said. "People ask themselves where this will end."
Much of the obstruction has been orchestrated by the party of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, raising questions about his commitment to the peace process. 
The peace plan offers constitutional changes and reforms to respond to the grievances of the ethnic Albanians, who account for about one-third of Macedonia's 1.9 million people. Some political power would devolve to regional governments, Albanian would become an official language in areas where Albanians account for more than 20 percent of the population and more Albanians would receive positions in state bodies, in particular the police force.
In exchange, the rebels, who have won control of swaths of northern and western Macedonia, would disarm and disband. 

NATO Troops Collect Rebel Weapons
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) -- NATO resumed collecting weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels Friday after Macedonia's parliament overwhelmingly backed a peace plan to end the armed conflict in return for upgrading minority rights.
There were no immediate details on the number or type of arms being surrendered in the second phase, which aims to take about 1,100 weapons, said a NATO spokesman, Maj. Barry Johnson.
British and Dutch troops with NATO's Operation Essential Harvest set up a collection site in the rebel-held village of Radusa, nine miles northwest of Skopje and close to the border with Kosovo. Maj. Johnson said the arms gathering was ``running smoothly.''
The peace plan is a Western-sponsored, step-by-step process that involves rebels' voluntarily surrendering arms to NATO in phases, to be followed by parliamentary approval of legislation to grant more rights to the ethnic Albanians.
The rebels, known as the National Liberation Army, began an insurgency in February that they said was aimed at winning more rights for the ethnic Albanians, a third of the country's 2 million people.
Lawmakers on Thursday finally buckled to international pressure and voted 91-19 in favor of changing the constitution to improve ethnic Albanian rights. The vote ended a weeklong, impassioned parliamentary debate that had threatened to stall the peace process.
The alliance has already taken more than a third of the 3,300-piece rebel arsenal to be surrendered this month. In the second phase, NATO plans to collect another third of the arsenal, or about 1,100 weapons.
After that comes what many see as the deal's main hitch. Lawmakers must wrestle with 36 specific constitutional amendments for greater political and language rights for the ethnic Albanians. The final cache of rebel weapons will not be taken until after parliament passes the constitutional changes.
Hardline Macedonian legislators are expected to push for changes in the draft amendments that could undermine the extent of planned reforms.
``There is a new tendency in the second phase, some people want to change the meaning, the contents of the amendments,'' said ethnic Albanian leader Arben Xhaferi. ``We will not accept this game.''
Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, urged ``as few changes as possible.''
``The agreement should be considered as a whole. ... The most intelligent thing would be that no changes are made,'' Solana said Friday in Skopje.
Earlier, the assembly vote drew only praise. NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson called it a ``historic decision'' that helps ``bring their country back from the brink of war.''
The peace process also calls for an amnesty for demobilized rebels, excluding those who could face war crimes prosecution. The rebels, now in control of large swaths of the dominantly ethnic Albanian northwest, are meant to disband and return to normal life.
EU Commissioner Chris Patten predicted the parliament decision would help boost EU aid and encourage pledges at donor conferences.
The EU has already put together $27 million to repair damage caused by the recent fighting and is considering speeding up the handover of an additional $44 million package to bolster state finances.
Patten on Friday signed a separate financial agreement with Macedonian officials for a $38 million aid package for 2001, mainly for infrastructure projects, agriculture, economic and judiciary reforms and the environment. Some of the funds will go to emergency reconstruction of villages damaged in recent fighting.
Many Macedonians believe the ethnic Albanian rebels are only handing in outdated hardware to NATO. On Friday, some of them mocked the NATO mission in a street performance.
Sticking fuses into giant watermelons to represent their most powerful weapon, the protesters said they would hand over the fruit to the alliance in a symbolic show of disarmament.

RADIO TV 21

OSCE: Voter registration for Kosova elections extended by two weeks
The deadline for registering to vote in the forthcoming elections for a Central Assembly in Kosova has been extended by two weeks, until 22 September, 2001. The extension period will not only apply to voter registration operations in Kosova, Serbia and Montenegro, but also to the mail-in process being co- ordinated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Vienna. The Head of the OSCE Mission, Ambassador Daan Everts, said that the decision had been taken in response to what he called, "the quite spectacular surge" in demand to register over the past fortnight, especially amongst Kosova's smaller communities. "It would not be right to stop the process this weekend when the momentum to register is clearly there. The OSCE wants a Voters' List which is as accurate and as inclusive as possible. What we've done over the past six weeks is to mount a very focused drive to reach out to those communities which did not take part in the process last year. We've also been targeting all those Kosova Albanians who have returned to Kosova since the last election and have been added to the Civil Register but now need to be advised on where to vote on 17 November." Ambassador Everts welcomed recent statements by political leaders from inside and outside Kosova, encouraging the communities to take part in the registration process, which had clearly had a positive impact. Latest voter registration figures confirm the upward trend of the past fortnight. By close of business on Wednesday 5 September, a total of 23,582 people had visited Civil Registration and Voter Services sites for communities in Kosova which chose not to register last year - almost 3,500 on Wednesday alone. Those who have visited Voter Services Centres to check or update their details on the Voters' List number 58,493. These include people who have changed address in the past year, or who were obliged to vote by conditional ballot last year. However, OSCE election officials remain concerned about the low number of Kosova Albanians registered with the United Nations since the 2000 Municipal Elections that have visited the Voter Services Centres to find out where they should vote on 17 November. Roughly 80,000 of these voters still need to be assigned polling centres. The OSCE strongly urges them to take advantage of the deadline. The process only takes a few minutes but will save them, other voters and polling station staff a lot of trouble on Election Day. They can visit one of the 47 fixed Voter Services Centres around Kosova which will open for business as usual on Monday 10 September. Meanwhile, 35 joint OSCE/UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosova) mobile registration teams will revisit about 100 locations populated by small, isolated communities. The final deadline will be Saturday 22 September. It will not be possible to extend beyond that date and still leave sufficient time to produce the updated 2001 Voters' List in time for this year's Central Assembly elections. Outside Kosova, the latest figures from the IOM show that 57,624 people have registered in Serbia and 1,984 in Montenegro. A total of 13,498 mail-in applications received have been approved so far.

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