[Prishtina-E] Today's Articles on Albanian Issues, August 31, 2001

[National Albanian American Council - NAAC]

National Albanian American Council
1700 K Street, N.W., Suite 1201, Washington, DC  20006
(202) 466-6900    Fax: (202) 466-5593
Email: naac at naac.org
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For Your Information
AUGUST 31, 2001
ATA (Albanian News Agency)

U.S. grants US$ 1.4 million for modernisation of Port of Durres
Albania and the U.S. Trade Development Agency (TDA) signed a contract with a value of US$ 1.4 million to purchase equipment for the processing of containers in the sea port of Durres. According to sources from Ministry of Transportation, a contract was signed with the U.S. company "Rapid and Rental" for the purchase of two unloading equipment with a value of US$ 273 thousand and two other equipment with a value of US$ 270 thousand. Within the framework of this grant for the implementation of the Initiative for Development of South Balkans, a contract was signed with the U.S. company "Mi-Jack Products" for the purchase of a mobile crane with a value of US$ 768 thousand. On the basis of the contracts the equipment is to be supplied within six months. The signing of contracts with a value of US$ 1.4 million for the development of Durres port is considered by Ministry of Transports as a continuation of the U.S. government assistance to the development of transportation infrastructure in Albania and especially that along Corridor 8. 

RADIO 21

President Meidani: Albanian diplomacy must be more agressive
Albania's President Rexhep Meidani hailed Wednesday the achievements of Albanian diplomacy as regards opening of negotiations for Association/Stabilization Agreement with European Union, and constructive stance of Albanian diplomacy with light to the latest developments in Kosove and Macedonia. "Integration and development are the roads of Albania's opening with the European family, and they will help creation of necessary spaces for its development", said Meidani at the annual meeting of Albania's diplomatic representatives in the world. Analyzing the work of the diplomatic corps over the last years, President Meidani urged "Albanian diplomacy, despite the national character, to be even of an aggressive character, not falling prey to wrong positions, but making the power of political/diplomatic factor be very present at certain moments". This "aggressive character", according to President Meidani, should be applied by Albanian diplomacy even while implementing the Stability Pact and development projects. President Meidani draw the attention to the protection of the rights of Albanians, wherever they live. "They can not be protected by means of speculations of a Great Albania character, but through the process of integration and economic, social, cultural and politic development". Making use of critical tones, Meidani spoke about speculations and deformations of the image of Albanians in the world. Meidani estimated as a 'falsification' an article of the "News Week" magazine, where Albania was listed in the group of the nine less developed countries, at the time when the United Nations report on human development ranked Albania in the group of averagely-developed countries. Meidani drew attention to the fact that "none of our representatives in embassies abroad did not react against such a speculative material". President Meidani presented as indispensability the opening of an office for information processing close to the diplomatic missions of Albania in foreign countries, where the Foreign Ministry should be the engine of this information processing. Meidani asked for a rigorous work in presentation of economic development of Albania, to make this sector even be a help to Albanians who live outside national borders. "Gates of our embassies and consulate offices should be opened 24 hours a day for the Albanians living there, to assist them through the legal consulation or through consulations of human character", Meidani said. "Our euro-Atlantic integration can remain a delayed dream, if the indexes of business penetration are not increased", Meidani said, urging all Albanian embassies in developed countries to present the materials which reflect the first contact of these countries with the Albania's economic world.

KOSOVALIVE

OSCE Says Serbs Should Rush to Register But Still Have Time to Decide to Vote on November 17
PRISHTINA (KosovaLive) - In the fifth week of the registration process, the numbers of newly registered voters in Kosova has reached 14,600, of which 7,400 are from non-Albanian communities. Meanwhile, 35,000 Serbs have registered in Serbia, but only 735 people have registered in Montenegro.
OSCE says it is pleased that members of the Serb community, both in and out of Kosova, are registering in increasingly significant numbers.
"By taking this concrete step of registration, they are demonstrating that they are an integral part of Kosovo and are interested in taking part in future democratic developments in Kosovo," said OSCE spokesman Sven Lindholm.
He said that it was important that Serbs register now.  They can decide later about exercising their right to vote on November 17.
The endorsements by FRY President Vojislav Kostunica and Serb Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic seem to have had some effect,  "as the registration rate of Kosovo Serbs is rising," said UNMIK spokeswoman Susan Manuel.
OSCE also stated that more than 50,000 people had visited voter service centers.  For most of them, it required only about five minutes to check their personal information and find out where to vote on election day.
Meanwhile, UNMIK and OSCE mobile registration teams continue to visit communities across Kosova to ensure that all potential voters are registered and will be able to exercise their right to vote on November 17.
Regarding the voter registration process for Kosovars currently outside of the region, Lindholm explained that it was not for "convenience" absentee voting.  It is for those who were displaced by the war and its aftermath and not for people who are living and/or working abroad.
This means that if the person is civilly registered in Kosova, though currently living outside of Kosova, he/she cannot get his/her ballot and vote by mail.  Instead, information will be forwarded by mail about how and where to vote in Kosova. (f.osmani)

Two Serbs Convicted of Attack on Albanian Minor
VITIA (KosovaLive) - The municipal court in Vitia found two Serbs from Mogila, Darko Zuzic and Boban Dimic, guilty of assaulting Albanian minor Xhevdet Rexhepi. The attack on Rexhepi, also from Mogila, took place on August 27 at around 7 p.m.
The court found that Zuzic first punched the youth in the chest, and then held him from behind while Dimic struck the boy with a stone. The convicted men were sentenced to 30 days in jail.
On Wednesday and Thursday, nine new families with 45 members arrived in Vitia from the village of Libeten in Macedonia.
According to representatives of the Mother Teresa humanitarian organization, the families that registered on Thursday have already decided to return to Macedonia. They asked UNHCR to assist them in crossing the border. The Mother Teresa organization distributed food to the families Wednesday and Catholic Relief Services distributed hygiene packages. 
According to Mother Teresa organization, the total number of displaced persons in Vitia municipality is 8,561. (is)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Macedonia Parliament Debates Reforms
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) -- Hundreds of Macedonian protesters opposed to granting ethnic Albanians more rights blocked entrances to parliament and scuffled with lawmakers Friday, delaying a debate on upgrading the minority group's status.
Zehir Bekteshi, a deputy from the ethnic Albanian Democratic Prosperity Party, was punched in the face and kicked in the back by the angry crowd before he was able to outrun a protester and flee from the scene.
The debate -- part of the first phase of a peace agreement -- was set after NATO announced it had collected a third of the weapons that ethnic Albanian rebels agreed to surrender. But the protest forced officials to postpone the parliamentary session for six hours past its planned start.
Up to 500 protesters blocked entrances of the parliament in the capital, Skopje, preventing deputies from getting in and shoving away some of them. Reinforcements of riot police were brought in. They cordoned off the assembly but did not intervene.
The hard-liners handed out leaflets condemning ``efforts to destroy the Macedonian nation'' and brandished anti-NATO posters.
``I don't even know why I am here, all I feel is this deep anger -- I don't know if I will be able to return to my home or where I will live in the future,'' said one protester, Elena Bozinovska, a 28-year-old Macedonian refugee. She said she fled her native Nikustak after the village was engulfed in fighting between rebels and government troops earlier this year.
Under a peace plan aimed at ending a six-month-old conflict, the government agreed to start the debate once a third of the 3,300 weapons expected by NATO had been handed in by the rebels. There is no obligation to pass the reforms until the total is collected.
Although the Macedonian government maintains the rebel arsenal is far larger than 3,300 weapons -- even as high as 60,000 -- President Boris Trajkovski's office issued a statement saying parliament would honor its commitment by beginning the debate Friday.
Gjorgji Trendafilov, spokesman of Macedonia's leading VMRO party, told reporters Friday that his group -- 47 legislators in the 120-seat parliament -- would vote in favor of getting the ball rolling on constitutional changes. A two-thirds majority is needed to approve the start of the debate.
The constitutional changes would make Albanian an official language in areas where ethnic Albanians comprise more than 20 percent of the population and give broader authority to local governments, essentially awarding a degree of self-rule to predominantly ethnic Albanian areas. They also would ensure proportional representation of minorities in the government and police forces, as well as in the Constitutional Court, which has final say in legislative matters.
NATO confirmed Thursday that it had completed the first phase of its Operation Essential Harvest by collecting 1,400 weapons. The NATO mission began this week and was slated to end Sept. 26.
Ethnic Albanian rebels staged an insurgency for six months this year in a struggle to win more rights for their people, a third of Macedonia's 2 million population.
In Kosovo, which served as a supply base for fighters and weapons during the Macedonian insurgency, U.N. and NATO officials reported that 137 former insurgents had crossed legally from Albania into Kosovo.
``They claimed that they fought against Macedonian troops and gave up their weapons to NATO,'' said Valentina Pochuieva of the U.N. police. The ex-fighters were unarmed and had proper Macedonian documents, so they were allowed entry, she said.
Tensions persisted. Four blasts have hit ethnic Albanian neighborhoods of Skopje this week, but no one was injured.
A small group of Macedonians used trucks to block the Blace crossing on the border with the NATO-run Yugoslav province of Kosovo, delaying the arrival of German soldiers who are part of NATO's mission here until early Friday.
The convoy of about 350 troops and 150 vehicles, including at least three Leopard tanks, was forced to take unsafe back roads and an alternative border crossing before eventually arriving at the Eredino base in northwestern Macedonia at dawn.
Macedonian villagers from Matejce, 14 miles north of Skopje, also blocked another border crossing to protest NATO's mission.

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