[Kcc-News] RADIO 21: Newly Graduated Kosova Police Pledge Fair Protection of All Citizens

[Mentor Cana]

http://www.radio21.net/english/e16_9_00a.htm#Local

RADIO 21 PRISHTINA  Last updated shtator 16, 2000 19:16 CET

Local Elections Are Crucial Prelude for Central Elections, OSCE's Everts
Says

Prishtina, 16 September (Radio 21) -- It is crucial that municipal
elections are well conducted because the whole world is watching how
Kosovars are going to hold their elections, the head of the OSCE Mission
in Kosova, Ambassador Daan Everts, said today during a meeting of the
Coalition for Independence launching the election campaign for the 28
October local elections.
     The Coalition for Independence is made up of the United Democratic
Movement of Kosova led by Rexhep Qosja, and the Albanian Liberal Party
lead by Gjergj Rrapi.
     "When we want to have the democratisation at the central level,
through central elections, it is crucial that the municipal elections
are well conducted and are of a quality character," Ambassador Daan
Everts told the inauguration meeting.
     The leader of the United Democratic Movement of Kosova Rexhep Qosja
said: "We want a peaceful campaign, a campaign in which the ides,
programs and visions about the present and future are presented, not a
kind of a campaign in which ones' careers are a priority."
     Meanwhile, most of the Kosova Albanian political parties have been
involved in a full seam camping throughout the country.
     Top leadership of Gjergj Dedaj's Liberal Party (PLK) held a meeting
today with its members and supporters in Mitrovica, while the Democratic
Party of Kosova is expected to hold a meeting in the Peja town park on
Sunday. Sources in the Democratic Party of Kosova said the party leader,
Hashim Thaçi is expected to address the gathering.
     The Radio 21 correspondent in Ferizaj said today that the election
campaign in the area was being conducted in a very peaceful fashion. The
leadership of the Ferizaj chapter of Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic League
of Kosova (LDK) has called on all the parties operating in the area to
hold a joint gathering in the town to demonstrate tolerance and unity
among the political forces.

Newly Graduated Kosova Police Pledge Fair Protection of All Citizens

Prishtina, 16 September (Radio 21)-- "We stand ready to protects order,
peace, lives, dignity and moral of every citizen, regardless their
national or any other background, because with no example we want to be
like those who for ten consecutive years terrorized the people of
Kosova," Shekfi Mehmetaj, commander of the newly graduated group of
Kosovar policemen, said solemnly today in Prishtina during a graduation
ceremony.
     The eighth class of the Kosova policemen that graduated today from
OSCE-run Kosova Police Service School in Vushtrri comprises 283 cadets,
out of which 48 are non-Albanian.
     With the graduation of this last group, the total number of trainee
police officers that have successfully graduated from the school's basic
training course reaches nearly 2,000, the OSCE said in a statement.
     Addressing the newly graduated policemen, the deputy director of
the Kosova Police Service School, John Fitzgerald, advised them to abide
by the democratic norms of policing.
     "You must recognizes that success can only be achieved not by force
of arms or numbers, but on your moral authority as servants of the
people," Fitzgerald said.
     Following the graduation, the cadets will spend a further 17 weeks
of in-service training with UNMIK international police and an additional
80 hours of classroom tuition provided by OSCE police instructors at
regional training centers around Kosova.
     Class 9, in which a total of 273 students are enrolled, including
55 non-Albanians, began their basic training on 21 August.

Amnesty International Presses for the Release of 14 Kosova Albanians
Held in Serbian Prison

Prishtina, 16 September (Radio 21) -- The international human rights
organization, Amnesty International, called on Friday for the release of
14 Kosova Albanians, including a 75-year-old man, held in a Serbian
prison for 15 months without criminal investigation having been
initiated.
     "These men should be released immediately; their detention is
completely unlawful - it violates both national and international law

If there is substantial evidence that they have committed recognizably
criminal offences they should be charged, and if necessary, their
release made subject to guarantee to appear for trial," ", Amnesty
International said in a press release.
     The 14 men were reportedly detained at various locations in Kosova
in May 1999, along with thousands of others taken in by Serbian police
at the time.

UNMIK and KFOR Continue Battling to Contain Deadly Acid Leak in
Mitrovica

Prishtina, 16 September (Radio 21) -- The UN personnel and NATO-led
international peacekeepers, KFOR, have been battling since Tuesday to
contain a deadly acid leak at the Trepça industrial plant in southern
Mitrovica.
     KFOR said today that a special pump arrived from Germany last night
to help transferring acid from the damaged tank into a safe storage
container.
     On Tuesday sulfuric acid began to leak from a ruptured inlet pipe
to a tank containing 600,000 liters of sulfuric acid. Initially, the
leak rate was about 100 litters per minute, and as many as 40,000 liters
of acid had escaped before the leak was noticed.
     For a couple of days KFOR and UNMIK made efforts to channel the
acid into a catch basin that could then be neutralized using lime and
gypsum. However the acid has already reached the nearby Sitnica River.