From mentor at alb-net.com Wed Dec 5 07:32:04 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2001 07:32:04 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Kcc-News] Kosova: Election Thoughts (by Veton Surroi) Message-ID: http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr2/bcr2_20011128_4_eng.txt Kosovo: Election Thoughts What matters most about the elections is that for the first time in Kosovar history, the arena for solving their problems will be a parliament that they elected themselves. By Veton Surroi in Pristina (BCR No. 300, 28-Nov-01) It is election day in Kosovo and I am walking the streets with a German - a connoisseur of voting from Colombia to Bulgaria. I feel imbued with a sort of pride that is so rare in Kosovo. It is just like an election day in a German Lutheran Land, where people combine three activities on Sunday election days: going to church, casting their ballots and family get-togethers. Kosovo's free, democratic elections, the second since the 1999 conflict ended, show just how capable the people and their parties are of developing democracy. They set an example not only for Albanians, bearing in mind the defects in the elections in Albania and Macedonia, but the region as a whole. None of its neighbours managed to organise better elections. The voting is over and all eyes are on the figures. The turnout was lower than last year's local elections. The drop of 10 per cent draws attention to two contradictory trends among the electorate. First, we have more voters (a figure likely to increase with every election due to the growing number of children reaching the age of 18). On the other hand, fewer people in every poll feel it is worth going to the polls. Still, with its 63 per cent turnout, Kosovo still beats many Western democracies with far more experience of free polls. And the figures also show Kosovo is starting to see a process of consolidation among the parties. The biggest block comprises the main Albanian parties, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, the Democratic Party, PDK, and the Alliance for the Kosovo's Future, AAK. Then there's the powerful Serbian block, followed by one which includes the minority groups of Bosnians, Roma, Hashkali and Turks. And finally, there is the block of tiny Albanian parties. The voters have clearly decided to make some checks and balances in Kosovo's political life. The LDK, which won by a big margin in the previous elections, appears to have lost 10 per cent of its supporters. If many votes in previous elections supposedly went to the LDK due to the inactivity of other parties and the arrogance of their leaders, the LDK seems likely to have forfeited some of that support due to its own inactivity and arrogance. The PDK vote remained static, defying hopes for an increase in support owing to the high profile of their presidential candidate, Flora Brovina. It all suggests PDK backing peaked in the local elections. The AAK enjoyed a growth in support thanks to its hard work. But it needs a two-fold increase to overtake the PDK. The votes that went to the block of big parties won a total of 79 per cent of the seats in the parliament. This is no surprise, as most people voted for those leaders whose posters were on display in every street. On the other hand, the relatively high number of votes going to the block of little parties shows many electors do not trust the big party leaders. One novelty in these elections is Serb participation. The Povratak coalition will be the third political force in parliament with 21 seats. This fundamentally alters Kosovo's political life. The Serbs will have a ministerial post as will other minority representatives. Like it or not, the big Albanian parties will have to form a coalition with the Serbs. If not, the LDK will have to negotiate with other parties to form a coalition and elect Ibrahim Rugova as president. So much of Kosovo's future politics will depend on the election of the president whose duties under the constitutional framework will include presenting awards and delivering an annual report. Based on Kosovo's decade-long experience of Rugova, he is certainly skilled in delivering awards. Whether he can fulfil the other conditions for presidency is less clear. The second question is whether he can get votes for the post from a range of parties. This would be the first step towards consensus politics in Kosovo. The LDK should only gain support for the election of its candidate as president if it agrees to form a government of experts. The second stage of this consensus should be agreement on the new administration's priorities. If Rugova wins the post of president, he will have to resign from LDK, opening the way for the creation of a genuinely multi-party democracy. It will help redefine the LDK as a party rather than a movement. This would have an impact of the other parties, too, which tend to lack a clear political profile. Other points also need to be considered. Will the Albanians want an efficient government and what will they want it for. An administration that merely repeats slogans about independence will achieve little. It won't do much to solve problems over pensions, the electric corporation, conditions for investment, the economy and agriculture; and will be locked in permanent conflict with the international community. The second point involves the Serbs. Their participation in the parliament means they will have a new opportunity to resolve their problems - but this means recognising Kosovo's territorial integrity and its institutions. If the Serbs try to block the work of parliament, the assembly and government will not help them either. The third point concerns relations between the Albanians and UNMIK. The constitutional framework has created an extraordinary situation in which the latter has the power to annul any Kosovo government initiative. The new government will need to agree with UNMIK on the country's basic priorities over the next three years. Kosovo's new parliament faces innumerable troublesome issues. What matters most is the fact that for the first time in our history the arena for solving these issues will be a parliament that we elected ourselves. The fact that this assembly will not have the authority to take many decisions is a consequence of the stage of history we are in. We are at the ABC stage of democracy. Like all pupils who need to learn more, our parliament and the institutions springing from it will be our special schools. Veton Surroi is publisher of Koha Ditore. From mentor at alb-net.com Thu Dec 20 00:05:46 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 00:05:46 -0500 (EST) Subject: [Kcc-News] Albin Kurti Freed. 203 left to go. Message-ID: ASSOCIATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS (A-PAL) www.khao.org/appkosova.htm A-PAL STATEMENT December 08, 2001 December 7, one Albanian detainee, Albin Kurti, was released from Nis prison and is now home in Prishtina. On arriving in Kosova, he stated that it was wrong for him to be released and 203 others to remain behind. Since the UNMIK/Covic transfer document was signed in November, 2001, only three Albanians have been released. There has been no news on the process for the transfer to UNMIK's jurisdiction of the remaining 203 prisoners, nor any date given for this process to take place as the group faces its third holiday season in Serb prison. In October, 2000, President Kostunica stated that the prisoners would be released as soon as possible. 203 are still waiting. As we witnessed in the past, once pressure on the Serb leaders got too intense, towards taking action on the prisoner issue, one "high profile case" was released. For example: Flora Brovina, the 143-Member Gjakova group, and now Albin Kurti. International observers should not be lulled into thinking that now that Mr. Kurti is free, that action towards the others will soon follow. We must keep the pressure constant. Therefore, we URGE all our readers to continue their efforts at making leaders aware that appropriate enactment of the November agreement has not yet occurred. And it is imperative that it does. For the sake of lives and for the sake of stability. Sincerely, A-PAL Team. JOIN OUR EMAIL ACTION. IT'S EASY. ONLY TAKES SEVERAL MINUTES PER WEEK. EMAIL-ACTION: RELEASE THE PRISONERS NOW! T? LIROHEN MENJ?HER? T? BURGOSURIT! LASST JETZT DIE GEFANGENEN FREI! ODMAH OSLOBODITE ZATVORENIKE! http://www.dbein.bndlg.de/APP/ Following Articles: * ICRC : ICRC Accompanies a detainee from a Serbian jail * REUTERS LIMITED : Serbia frees Kosovo Albanian student leader -- ICRC PRESS RELEASE Pristina, 07.12.2001 ICRC ACCOMPANIES A DETAINEE FROM A SERBIAN JAIL Tonight, the ICRC accompanied to Kosovo one person released by the authorities in Serbia. Albin Kurti from Prishtin?/Pristina was released from Nis prison. To date 1834 detainees have been released of whom 1675 were accompanied back home by the ICRC. During the detention visits the ICRC delegates have exchanged more than 34,318 Red Cross Messages between the detainees and their family members. 203 detainees will continue to be visited by the ICRC until their final release by the authorities. Further info contact Nada Doumani, ICRC Mission, + 377 44 115 036 (Translated in Albanian) KUMTES? NGA KNKK Prishtin?, 07.12.2001 -- Serbia frees Kosovo Albanian student leader PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Dec. 7 - Serbia released a prominent Kosovo Albanian student activist on Friday who had been in jail since NATO's 1999 war on Yugoslavia. Taken to the Serbian heartlands as Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslav forces retreated from the mainly Albanian province, Albin Kurti was sentenced to 15 years in prison for terrorism. While most Kosovo Albanian prisoners had already been freed from Serbian jails after the ousting of Milosevic as Yugoslav president 14 months ago, Western nations and human rights bodies have been pressing for Kurti and others to be released too. The reformist authorities in Belgrade are still determined not to give in to the demands of some ethnic Albanians for complete independence for Kosovo. Kurti, in his mid-20s, was greeted by around 100 friends and family members when he arrived late in the evening in Pristina, capital of Kosovo, which is now under U.N.-led administration. Sporting a short prison haircut, Kurti said he did not know why he had been freed nor why it had taken so long: "I don't know why I stayed in prison for such a long time," he said. The crowd, including many others who had seen the inside of Serbian jails, cheered and applauded him. "This is a miracle," said his uncle, Skender Kurti. A spokeswoman for the International Red Cross (ICRC), Vjosa Osmani, said in Pristina that Kurti had been released from prison in the central Serbian town of Pozarevac. Serbian officials were not available for comment. Kurti was arrested in Kosovo during the air strikes NATO launched in an effort to force Milosevic to stop what it said was Serbian oppression of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority. Like hundreds of other Albanian detainees, he was taken to Serbia proper when Yugoslav forces withdrew from the province. A district court in southern Serbia sentenced him in March last year to 15 years in jail for terrorism. Kurti was leader of the Independent Union of Albanian Students, which was set up in Pristina after Belgrade stripped Kosovo of the autonomy it had enjoyed during the Communist era in federal Yugoslavia and imposed direct rule in 1989. He also organised student demonstrations in Kosovo. Some Kosovo Albanians are still held in Serbian jails. Kurti said the international community was not doing enough for them. Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited