From mentor at alb-net.com  Thu Jul  1 12:14:19 2004
From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana)
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 12:14:19 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Prishtina-E] a boy with cancer needs your help: Kastriot Gorani
	(fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0407011208440.10759@alb-net.com>


--------------------------------------------
From: Etrit Bardhi <epa at MATHLAB.SUNYSB.EDU>
Subject: [ALBANIAN] Kastriot Gorani

Hi,

please take a look at the following web site and spread it further.  It is
about a 4 year old Kastriot Gorani who was diagnosed with cancer.

http://www.kosovaonline.net/kastriot.html

Kastriot Gorani
Steiermdrkische Bank und Sparkassen AG

Graz, Austria
Konto nr.:  02501-416859
BLZ: 20815
IBAN: AT742081502501416859


From mentor at alb-net.com  Mon Jul 12 13:59:03 2004
From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana)
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 13:59:03 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Prishtina-E] [Kcc-News] Kosova Parliament Challenges U.N.
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0407121347340.32410@alb-net.com>

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1. Kosovo's Parliament Set To Challenge UN's Authority (RFERL)
2. Kosovo Parliament Challenges U.N. Authority (Reuters)

### 1 ###

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2004/07/1965fbf8-54f6-4ea7-b8d2-9db48862dbd3.html

Kosovo's Parliament Set To Challenge UN's Authority
By Patrick Moore

Thursday, 08 July 2004

Kosova's parliament voted on 8 July to adopt several constitutional 
changes, including one establishing the right to hold a referendum on 
independence. Other measures call for switching responsibility for 
international relations and public security from the UN civilian 
administration (UNMIK) to Kosova's own officials.

UNMIK has repeatedly warned the parliament that it is not competent to make 
changes to the Constitutional Framework. Only the UN Security Council, 
which adopted Resolution 1244 in 1999, has the authority to make such 
changes, UNMIK stresses. One unnamed international official called the 
parliament's vote a waste of time.

But in the wake of the ethnically motivated unrest in March, many political 
leaders in Kosova have called for speeding up the transfer of authority 
from UNMIK to Kosovar officials (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 2 and 16 April 
2004). In a well-publicized editorial, publisher Veton Surroi suggested in 
the 17 June issue of "Koha Ditore" that the next head of the international 
administration would do well not to bring any grand plan along. Instead, he 
should simply let the elected Kosovar officials get on with governing, 
intervening only when absolutely necessary.

In fact, many Kosovars argue that the violence showed that the province is 
a time bomb waiting to explode so long as the status issue remains 
unresolved. They stress that time has come to end what is essentially a 
colonial administration in a postcolonial world, moving toward independence 
based on self-determination and majority rule, as has been the standard in 
the post-1945 process of decolonization.

These and other scenarios regarding Kosova were discussed on 17 and 18 June 
at an off-the-record conference in Berlin sponsored by the German Foreign 
Ministry, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the Munich-based Center for 
Applied Policy Research, titled "Rethinking the Balkans" (see "RFE/RL 
Balkan Report," 25 June 2004).

Many of the Western participants at that gathering stressed that the 
Kosovars must first meet internationally mandated standards before there 
can be movement toward clarifying Kosova's final status.

Serbian participants, for their part, were generally keen to note the 
importance of all minority rights, including freedom of movement and the 
right of all refugees and displaced persons to go home. Several Serbs 
stressed that they will measure the Albanians' sincerity by the extent to 
which they protect the Serbs' rights, adding that few Serbs are optimistic 
on this score following the March violence.

Instead, many Serbs argued for some form of administrative partition. One 
Serb said that dividing Bosnia into two ethnically based entities in 1995 
might not have been a perfect solution, but it has worked. Besides, he 
wondered, how can one charge that Bosnia is a weak state when it has the 
might of the international community behind it?

Some of the Kosovar Albanian participants took the opposite approach, 
arguing that one reason for the frustration that led to the March violence 
was the tendency of UNMIK to try to build a multiethnic society on basis of 
ethnic divisions. Instead, Hashim Thaci of the Democratic Party of Kosova 
(PDK) told "Balkan Report" on the margins of the conference that Kosova 
needs a solution resembling Macedonia's 2001 Ohrid agreement, which would 
reconstruct Kosova on the civic principle rather than on an ethnic basis. 
This, Thaci continued, would mean an end to enclaves and parallel 
structures by treating Kosova as a single country. Serbs would have the 
right to dual Serbian and Kosovar citizenship and to contacts with Serbia. 
Their cultural and historical monuments would be protected, Thaci stressed.

But at least some of the Westerners at the Berlin conference called for 
recasting rather than ending the foreign administration in Kosova. Some 
participants close to Germany's opposition Free Democratic Party (FDP) 
repeated their party's call for replacing UNMIK with an EU administration, 
while maintaining NATO's security presence.

One FDP member of the German parliament told "Balkan Report" on the margins 
of the conference that the EU is more knowledgeable about Kosova's affairs 
than are many international officials from Africa or Asia, adding that the 
EU is in the best position to offer the Kosovars incentives to meet the 
necessary standards. When asked by "Balkan Report" what the EU would do if 
the Kosovar Albanian majority wanted a political as well as a military role 
for the United States, his FDP interlocutor replied "we'll see" (see 
"RFE/RL Balkan Report," 5 March 2004).

For their part, many Serbian participants eagerly leaned forward in their 
seats when the subject of EU rule in Kosova was raised.

But the Kosovar Albanians tended to be skeptical, sensing that the project 
is more an attempt by some in the EU to show that Brussels can solve Balkan 
problems than something that will truly benefit Kosova. One Kosovar 
remarked that it seems strange that foreigners want to leave Iraq at the 
first sign of violence, but when unrest breaks out in Kosova, some 
foreigners seem more intent on staying than they were before.


### 2 ###

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=574&e=9&u=/nm/20040708/wl_nm/serbiamontenegro_kosovo_dc_2

Kosovo Parliament Challenges U.N. Authority

Thu Jul 8,10:41 AM ET
By Matthew Robinson

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - Kosovo's parliament threw down 
the gauntlet to the province's U.N. overseers Thursday, adopting 
constitutional changes including the right to call a referendum on 
independence from Serbia.

The amendments also included switching control for international relations 
and public security from the U.N. mission, which has run the majority 
Albanian province since the 1999 conflict, to local authorities.

But to become law they must be signed by Kosovo's acting U.N. governor, who 
has already warned that only the United Nations (news - web sites) has the 
authority to make major constitutional changes.

"Any comprehensive review of the Constitutional Framework is outside the 
competence of the assembly," the U.N. mission said ahead of the vote, 
referring to the 2001 document which set the ground rules for Kosovo's 
provisional government and parliament.

Kosovo was placed under U.N.-led administration in June 1999 after a 78-day 
NATO (news - web sites) bombing campaign to halt Serb repression of ethnic 
Albanians. It remains formally part of Serbia and Montenegro, the loose 
union that replaced Yugoslavia last year.

The province's international administrators, backed by NATO peacekeepers, 
continue to hold the real power including a veto over parliament. But local 
Albanian leaders are increasingly impatient for formal independence and 
control over their own affairs.

"WASTE OF TIME"

One senior international official in Kosovo described parliament's move as 
a "non-starter" and a "waste of time."

He accused local politicians of playing to the electorate by making it look 
as if they were taking on the United Nations.

"They're not even using the powers that they have effectively to run the 
government and manage affairs," he said.

Oliver Ivanovic, a member of the minority Serb coalition which boycotted 
the parliamentary session, said the action could only "threaten the already 
fragile stability and security" in Kosovo.

Ethnic Albanian discontent erupted in mid-March with a wave of fierce 
anti-Serb, anti-U.N. violence in which 19 people were killed and hundreds 
of homes destroyed.

Some Balkan experts have since advocated strengthening the local 
institutions and scaling down the U.N. presence after parliamentary 
elections scheduled for October.

Parliament's amendments, adopted by 85 of the 88 deputies present in the 
120-seat body, included the right "to determine Kosovo's final status 
through a referendum."

The international community has set out a policy of "Standards before 
Status," by which Kosovo must prove its credentials in democracy and human 
rights before discussion of its final status, possibly after mid-2005.

"We believe that setting standards and then implementing standards is the 
way forward for Kosovo," U.S. Deputy Undersecretary for Political Affairs 
Marc Grossman said late on Wednesday after meeting local leaders in 
Pristina.
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From mentor at alb-net.com  Thu Jul 15 12:52:34 2004
From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana)
Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 12:52:34 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Prishtina-E] [AMCC-News] Macedonia strikes power deal seen crucial
	for peace
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.60.0407151251180.31585@alb-net.com>

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ROB868778.htm

Macedonia strikes power deal seen crucial for peace
15 Jul 2004 10:13:31 GMT

By Kole Casule

SKOPJE, July 15 (Reuters) - Macedonia's coalition government has struck a 
long-delayed deal handing more powers to the local level, a crucial part of 
the 2001 peace accord granting greater rights to the ethnic Albanian 
minority.

The agreement late on Wednesday, unpopular among many in the Macedonian 
majority, should give the country's 500,000 Albanians more control over 
municipalities where they form a majority.

It represents a final step in implementing the NATO-brokered deal that 
ended seven months of clashes between government security forces and ethnic 
Albanian rebels three years ago.

The issue has sparked fierce debate in Macedonia, a small Balkan state of 
just two million people. Protestors backed by the rightwing opposition 
VMRO-DPMNE party have accused the government of dividing Macedonia along 
ethnic lines.

Diplomats say the deal, which still has to be adopted by parliament, is 
vital for Macedonia's ambition to join the European Union, having formally 
applied for membership in March.

"If we want to build Macedonia as a European country we must go forward," 
said Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski.

"The obstacle we must pass is the peace deal ... This is probably the only 
medicine for the frustrations of Macedonians and Albanians," he told 
reporters.

Talks within the Social Democrat-led coalition, which includes a party that 
emerged from the guerrilla force, had been stalled for six weeks as 
politicians argued over how best to redraw municipal boundaries and shift 
power in local councils.

The three government parties have a majority in parliament.

Under the deal, the Macedonian capital Skopje will become bilingual, 
meaning street signs and official documents will be printed in both 
Albanian and Macedonian.

Albanian will become the second official language in municipalities with an 
Albanian population of at least 20 percent.

Most ethnic Albanians in Macedonia live in the west of the country in towns 
bordering Albania and Kosovo, the majority Albanian province administered 
by the United Nations since NATO's 1999 bombing campaign to halt Serb 
repression.

The decentralisation package also shifts power over sectors including 
schools, health and local economic development from national to local 
government. Municipal elections are now expected to be held on October 17.

Opposition leader Nikola Gruevski said the accord would create "artificial 
societies with classic ethnic enclaves, completely destroying the system of 
multi-ethnic life".

The guerrillas agreed in 2001 to lay down arms in return for greater rights 
for the large minority.
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From mentor at alb-net.com  Fri Jul 23 07:12:50 2004
From: mentor at alb-net.com (Kosova Crisis Center News and Information)
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 07:12:50 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Prishtina-E] [Kcc-News] IWPR: Investigation: Kosovo's
	Over-Politicised University
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.61.0407230712080.9535@alb-net.com>

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http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200407_508_1_eng.txt

Investigation: Kosovo's Over-Politicised University

>From politicians doubling up as lecturers to student leaders preoccupied
with "the national question", the University of Prishtina is an institution
crying out for reform.

By Sebahate Shala and Era Gjurgjeala in Pristina (BCR No 508, 23-Jul-04)

It is Wednesday morning and Arsim Bajrami, lecturer at the Department of
Political Sciences of the University of Prishtina, UP, is giving his lecture
on models of democracy to his first-year students. At 12.15, he packs up his
notes and returns to his office at the Rectorate Building, where he serves
as vice-rector for academic affairs.

Two hours later he is off to the Kosovo assembly. As deputy-president of the
second largest party in the region, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK,
Bajrami is also entrusted with leading the PDK caucus in parliament.

Professor Bajrami's active political life is by no means unusual at UP,
Kosovo's main institution for higher education, which had almost 27,000
students on its rolls during the academic year 2003/04.

High-profile figures from across the political spectrum hold management and
lecturing posts at UP. While not all are as active as Bajrami, four other
members of parliament, from all three main parties, hold high executive or
teaching posts.

Their involvement attests to the continuing influence that political parties
may exert on Kosovo's academic life and the interest they have in retaining
a foothold on campus.

But by allowing deep political penetration, UP is tolerating a violation of
Kosovo's public service regulations, which forbid public servants, including
university employees, from simultaneously holding political posts.

The current law on the civil service, UNMIK Regulation 2001/36, which covers
all staff at the UP, lays down a basic principle of "political neutrality
and impartiality" among employees, calling for "loyal service to the
institutions of the government without fear or favour, and irrespective of
political views and affiliations".

Article 28.1 of the administrative directive, which specifies the above
regulation, explains that while civil servants may belong to political
parties, they may not be actively involved in political activity; precisely,
they may not hold leadership or paid positions at any level.

The directive specifies, "A civil servant elected for a public post shall
resign [political activity], effective from the date that he or she takes
the oath or confirms acceptance of the elected post."

The presence of politician-lecturers not only violates the Kosovo civil
service code but the university's own voluntary commitments. The UP is
officially committed to the 1999 Bologna Declaration on Higher Education in
Europe, which draws from the Magna Charta Universitatum of 1988 that says,
"to meet the needs of the world around it", a higher education institution
must be "morally and intellectually independent of all political authority".


Criticism of the UP's practices has recently become more vocal on campus,
with new student movements demanding a university free from overt political
influence.

As Glauk Konjufca, an activist in the new student initiative, Tjeterqysh,
(which translates as "Something Different"), puts it, "As long as the
university executive and teaching posts are filled by party activists, there
is a permanent danger that key decisions on professorships, teaching
assistants and students will be influenced by political considerations."

AN INSTITUTION AT THE CENTRE OF THE "NATIONAL QUESTION"

Politics is not new to Kosovo's university. Since its foundation in Tito's
Yugoslavia in 1969, the university has played a central role in the region's
political life.

Anton Berishaj, a UP sociology lecturer, describes its chronology as
follows, "From its foundation until 1974, the UP was a national, romantic
institution. From 1974 until 1981 it was an institution of enlightenment,
while in the Eighties and early Nineties it became a fortress of
nationalism. In the last decade of the last century, it turned into a
fortress of resistance."

The demand for a university-level institution in Kosovo was closely
associated with the political movements of the late Sixties and with the
drive by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority for the status of an autonomous
province of Serbia to be upgraded to that of constituent republic.

In 1981, seven years after Kosovo's provincial government gained direct,
separate representation to the main federal Yugoslav bodies, the university
was again at the centre of political life.

After student protests erupted over conditions in their halls of residence,
what began as a local campus disturbance escalated into bloody,
province-wide demonstrations, demanding republic status for Kosovo. The
trouble ended in several dozen deaths and the imposition of martial law.

In the 1990s, the UP became a symbol of Kosovo Albanian resistance to
Slobodan Milosevic's government in Serbia, which abolished the region's
autonomy in 1989 and attempted to re-Serbianise the territory.

As Albanians abandoned or were forced out of state-run education, police,
health and government institutions, setting up their own parallel networks,
the university suffered in tandem with the rest of society. After refusing
to comply with a new Serbian curriculum, which largely eliminated the
teaching of Albanian literature and history, most university lecturers were
dismissed in 1991 and forced to organise alternative teaching in private
homes. The Serbs thus remained in total control of the university buildings
for several years.

After more than half a decade of this parallel education, a new wave of
student protests erupted from the parallel Albanian UP in late 1997. These
articulated frustration over the failure of the Serbian government to
restore some campus facilities to Albanian students, as Milosevic and the
main Kosovo political leader, Ibrahim Rugova, had agreed in 1996.

Nearly five years after the end of the NATO bombing campaign in 1999, which
culminated in the expulsion of Serbian forces from Kosovo (and the
consequent flight of Serb students from the official campus), the
traditional close relationship between politics and the university
continues, in spite of some attempts to eradicate the politicisation.

EDUCATION AMID POLITICAL INTERFERENCE

The status quo in Kosovo since the end of the war in 1999 has only confirmed
the politicised atmosphere at the university. The executive body of the UP,
known as the Rectorate, has been dominated ever since by the PDK, the
largest party to have come out of the Albanian guerrilla movement, the
Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA.

Arsim Bajrami and Hajredin Kuci, two deputy leaders of the PDK, are the UP's
vice-rector and head of the public relations office, respectively.

On the other hand, the ministry of education, science and technology is in
the hands of the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, the PDK's main political
rival and Kosovo's leading party since the 1990s. This has been the case
ever since 2002, when control over education was transferred from the UN
administration to local institutions.

With authority over the UP split between the Rectorate and the education
ministry, the dynamics that have ensued have naturally tended to echo the
wider party political struggles in Kosovo as a whole.

While the PDK has struggled to preserve its power over the university, the
LDK has tried to insert its own authority into the academic world, reducing
the power of its main rivals.

As Glauk Konjufca of Tjeterqysh told IWPR, "The university is an arena which
different politically-influenced groups struggle to control."

A key battlefield between the education ministry and the Rectorate has been
the drafting of the new statute of the university, which was to impose a
higher level of professionalism in the curriculum, management and teaching.

Although the Law on Higher Education, passed in May 2003, demands that the
new statute for the UP be completed within three months from the day the law
came into force, the drafting process took well over a year, with deadlines
being continually postponed due to disagreements between the Rectorate and
the education ministry.

Enver Hasani, a lecturer in international law and international relations at
the political sciences department, told IWPR, "The minister [of education]
has been pushing for a new statute for the UP ever since the adoption of the
new law on higher education, but the Rectorate has been stalling."

Hasani said the drafting process of the statute dragged on for over a year
because it did not suit the interests of the Rectorate. "Without a strict
law, the management of UP lacks any rules and can continue doing whatever it
pleases," he said.

The main stumbling block appears to have been the procedure for electing a
new executive management at the university. According to Rexhep Gjergji, an
adviser to the education ministry, the ministry and the Rectorate had to
seek professional advice from international experts in order to overcome
their differences.

The latter became involved in re-drafting the new statute, the final version
of which was approved by the UP senate on June 29, 2004, and was ratified by
the Kosovo assembly ten days later.

AN INSTITUTION SUFFERING FROM LOW STANDARDS

With so much energy being spent on national and political questions, the UP
has had limited opportunities to develop into an academic powerhouse, with
graduation rates being disturbingly low and funding rather inadequate.

Critics feel that at least part of the problem is caused by politicians'
battles for influence and control over the university. According to lecturer
Hasani, it is not surprising that standards of education have suffered, when
"academic and scientific advancements, the appointment of faculty deans and
the admissions procedures are all mainly done in accordance with party
loyalties".

In the academic year 2002/03, only about 11 per cent of UP's registered
students even graduated, and nearly two-thirds of these were students of
economics, law and humanities, at a time when Kosovo is desperately short of
architects, engineers and doctors.

On the other hand, Georg Woeber, special adviser on higher education to the
education minister, and principal international officer in the education
ministry, insists standards at UP must be judged within Kosovo's recent
historical context.

"It is difficult to compare the performance of the UP with other European or
regional universities, because there are no other universities which started
more or less from scratch less than five years ago. Bearing this in mind,
the performance of the UP is acceptable," he said, although also admitting
that there was room for improvement.

The other part of the UP's problem is not politics, but wretched
under-funding. Its total budget of 10.2 million euro, allocated from the
Kosovo budget in 2003, meant the university spent only 440 euro on each
student on average.

This compares badly even with relatively poor regional institutions, such as
the University of Skopje, which spends about 790 euro per student per year.
The gulf with western institutions is far vaster, with the corresponding
figure standing at 20,300 euro per student at the University of Amsterdam,
for example.

As about half the UP's total budget is used to pay the salaries of
university staff, few funds are left for research, capital investment,
updating and reforming the curriculum, essential student services and
upgrading the academic body.

REFORM BY A NEW STATUTE?

With new elections to the Rectorate coming up next semester in October, a
concern of local critics is that party politics may continue to take
precedence over professional teaching, leaving little improvement in the
quality of education.

Some critics, such as lecturer Hasani, still retain hope for a more
professional university, basing it mainly on the new statute of the UP and
the implementation of the Law on Higher Education.

"The new law on higher education is one of the most modern in the region.
Only strict adherence to this law and to other international standards on
education will guarantee the de-politicisation of the UP," he said.
"Otherwise, the UP will only shift from one to the other political wing."

Education ministry officials claimed that the statute would be entirely
compatible with the provisions of the 1999 Bologna Declaration, which sets
out standards for higher education. Rexhep Gjergji of the education ministry
was explicit about the link between the statute and de-politicisation.
"Faculty employees cannot also hold other executive, state or party posts.
The new statute of the UP will prohibit this," he said.

However, the new statute has no provisions explicitly dealing with the issue
of the political activities of UP's managing or lecturing staff.

Indeed, Georg Woeber takes the view that the new statute should not concern
itself with matters that are already provided for by the regulation on the
civil service.

"This matter [the potential politicisation of the UP] is covered by the law
on the civil service, and the new statute should not duplicate its
provisions. The role of the statute is to provide rules for the daily
operation of the university," he told IWPR.

Whatever its merits on other areas concerning university business, on the
issue of university politicisation the statue falls back - for the time
being at least - on UNMIK regulation 2001/36, which has largely been ignored
to date.

Hence, it is highly likely that politicians like Nexhat Daci and Sabri
Hamiti of the LDK, Arsim Bajrami and Hajredin Kuci of the PDK, and Zylfie
Hundozi of the Alliance for the Future of Kosova, AAK, will continue
lecturing at UP while still retaining their party posts and their Kosovo
assembly positions.

One reason why the UNMIK regulation 2001/36 has been so widely disregarded
by the UP management and academic staff may be that key officials within the
university do not feel university neutrality is a principle worth upholding.
For example, Arsim Bajrami, vice-rector and lecturer at UP, says he has no
qualms about violating the civil service code and sees no inconsistency
between his role at UP and his political commitments at the Kosovo assembly
and the PDK.

"I do not respect UNMIK regulations, but work to develop our own laws. I
will therefore continue with all my engagements until Kosovo becomes a
state," Bajrami told IWPR.

"Without resolution of the status of Kosovo, it is illogical for professors
to be locked up in university departments and only remain observers to
political developments."

For their part, students remain deeply divided over politician-lecturers,
with some saying they are happy to have the politicians on campus as long as
they are conscientious.

Arben Vrajolli, a third-year political sciences student, said, "Hajredin
[Kuci] is of the same calibre as Arsim Bajrami, very able and always
punctual. His political activities are his own business and as a student I
don't feel the effect of his political commitments."

Ibadete, a second-year chemistry student, also commends her lecturer, Nexhat
Daci, the speaker of the Kosovo assembly, "Daci does his best as a lecturer.
He is responsible, and was only absent on few occasions, when he went on
official trips abroad and had good reasons. I think a politician who is also
a lecturer cannot influence decisions at the university."

On the other hand, Driton Halimi, a third-year law student, said, "Their
duties at the university are of secondary importance for these lecturers. I
don't believe that students should be sacrificed because their professors
are also [Kosovo assembly] delegates."

AN OVER-POLITICISED STUDENTS' UNION

The politicisation of the university is compounded by the role and profile
of UP's foremost student body, the Independent Union of Students of the
University of Pristina, UPSUP.

With the university occupying such a central place in Kosovo's political
scene, it was almost inevitable that demands for student rights would be
closely interwoven with wider nationalist politics.

The UPSUP called for student demonstrations in 1997, dissatisfied with the
failure to implement the agreement on higher education reached between
Kosovo's parallel authorities and Belgrade. Although Ibrahim Rugova
disapproved of the UPSUP's call, its appeal was answered not only by the
students but scores of ordinary citizens.

Nearly five years after Serb forces left Kosovo, the union is finding it
hard to break out of its mode of resistance, its target now oscillating
between Kosovo's institutions, UNMIK, and the NATO-led security force, KFOR.


Propounding values not normally associated with European student
organisations, the union, together with associations of war veterans and war
invalids, has repeatedly concentrated on political themes, calling for the
release of former KLA fighters arrested on suspicion of war crimes, for
example.

Gani Morina, UPSUP's leader until April 2004 and former KLA fighter, said he
took part in protests against the arrest of Fatmir Limaj, an ex-KLA fighter
and senior PDK official, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia, ICTY.

"We protested because it was disgraceful to see a KLA fighter being tried in
The Hague alongside Milosevic," said Morina.

The union was also a vocal critic of October 2003 talks between Pristina and
Belgrade. Justifying the union's intervention on that issue, Morina said,
"We reacted not because we were opposed to talks but because we wanted the
decision for talks with Belgrade to be taken by the Kosovo assembly, and not
in violation of the will of the people."

In March this year, the union was again at the forefront of national
politics, as two days of violent anti-UNMIK riots erupted, forcing almost
4,000 Serbs from their homes.

At the start of the protest, on March 17, Morina addressed a crowd that had
gathered outside UNMIK headquarters in Pristina, attacking the international
bodies for their role in the territory. "We have come here to demand that
UNMIK, KFOR and the international community adopt a fairer attitude towards
Kosovo, because our freedom was not given to us but was won by ourselves,"
the student firebrand said.

Morina denied that the UPSUP was actively involved in the protests, which
later spiralled into violence. "Even if it had been honourable to organise
these protests, the UPSUP cannot take the credit, because we simply did not
organise them," he said.

He also insisted he got involved in the March protests as a citizen, not as
a student leader, maintaining that the union existed primarily to defend
student rights on campus, not articulate a wider political platform.

"The union was set up to advance studies and protect the rights of
students," he said. "Our actions are often labelled as politically
influenced, but only so that they [the education ministry and the Rectorate]
can avoid accepting criticism for their own mistakes."

The critics are not convinced, however. Skender Fetahu, leader of the New
Student Organisation, ORS, a recently-founded rival to the UPSUP, is
scathing in his condemnation of the union for neglecting student issues.

"The UPSUP did not organise a single student event during the leadership of
Gani Morina," he said. "All his time was taken up with political activities
and with the rights of war heroes and invalids, which are issues of concern
for parliament, not a student organisation."

With a new UPSUP leadership in place only since April, it remains to be seen
whether the union's future activities will follow the pattern set during
Morina's mandate.

But the momentum is in favour of shifting the focus onto purely student
issues.

The year 2003 saw a proliferation of organisations and initiatives aimed at
protecting student rights, ranging from Tjeterqysh to the ORS and a third
organisation, the Student League, all of which are shifting the agenda of
student activism towards academic concerns.

The new UP statute recognises all these organisations as legitimate student
representatives with the same status as the UPSUP, allowing them to compete
for leadership in a new student assembly.

"The new statute will allow us to hold elections and compete for the trust
of students. It will be like political parties competing for government,"
said Fetahu of ORS.

UP NEEDS TO GET POLITICS OFF CAMPUS

With such a pronounced history of involvement in nationalist politics, a
certain degree of political influence and activism at the UP is to be
expected, given the fact that many within the university - and outside it -
still feel it has a key role to play over "national" questions.

What this conviction must not overshadow, however, is the responsibility of
the university to provide a high-quality education to Kosovo's students.

The role of UP as the main educator of Kosovo's future elite is becoming all
the more vital, given the aspiration of Kosovo's Albanian majority for
statehood.

But with such a low percentage of registered students graduating each year,
UP has a long way to go to fulfil the ambitions set out in the Bologna
Declaration.

If UP is to meet European standards, tough decisions will have to be made by
its policy-making and executive bodies. It is important that these are
decisions made free from political considerations, with the interest of the
student and the labour market primarily in mind.

The new statute may help the university take key steps in this direction, as
experts expect it to equip the UP with a progressive handbook for the daily
operation of the university.

Georg Woeber, who was involved in redrafting the statute, said that having
such a detailed set of regulations would substantially reduce political
influence on decision-making.

But Woeber went on to admit, "To write a statute and implement it are
different things." Nor does Kosovo's recent experience with the law on the
civil service fill everyone with confidence that a new statute on its own
can alter years of behaviour.

What the new statute is almost certain to alter, however, is representation
of students. A stronger student body, with seven representatives in the
university senate, will hopefully ensure student concerns are not
marginalised by UP's decision-making and executive authorities, be they
politically influenced or not.

Era Gjurgjeala is a researcher at the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research
and Development, KIPRED, and Sebahate Shala is a journalist for the Kosovan
daily Epoka e Re.
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From mentor at alb-net.com  Fri Jul 30 20:45:16 2004
From: mentor at alb-net.com (Albanians in Macedonia Crisis Center News & Information)
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 20:45:16 -0400
Subject: [Prishtina-E] [AMCC-News] 1) Macedonia's inter-ethnic relations
 heat up again; 2) Macedonians Threaten Revolt Over Decentralisation
Message-ID: <000001c47697$a5bc3210$03fea8c0@linux>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 AMCC
                    http://www.alb-net.com/amcc/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
1. Macedonia's inter-ethnic relations heat up again
2. Macedonians Threaten Revolt Over Decentralisation

### 1 ###

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/infoservice/secwatch/index.cfm?service=cwn&parent=det
ail&menu=8&sNewsID=9332

Macedonia's inter-ethnic relations heat up again  

Plans to reorganize the country's administrative structure have rekindled
ethnic tensions in Macedonia and are straining the nation's internal
cohesion.

30.07.2004     
By Ekrem Krasniqi for ISN Security Watch

The Macedonian government's proposal to grant more rights to the country's
largest minority group has cast doubt on Macedonia's internal stability.
Only three years after clashes between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and
Macedonia's security forces almost caused a civil war, ethnic tensions are
heating up again after massive protests against a proposal that would
devolve more power to the regions and make Albanian a second official
language in regions where ethnic Albanians form more than 20 per cent of
population. The proposal is a crucial part of the 2001 Ohrid Agreement that
ended an ethnic Albanian uprising and is seen by the government as an
important step towards EU membership. But opposition parties, preparing for
local elections set to take place in the autumn, successfully mobilized
hundreds of thousands of Slav Macedonians against what they see as a threat
to the integrity of the small Balkan state. Observers say that the
opposition to devolution is an additional obstacle for Macedonia's bid to
join the EU, which is already burdened by a slow and ineffective judiciary,
corruption, organized crime, and a poor economy. 

Ethnic politics

Macedonia, a former republic of the Yugoslav Federation, declared its
independence in November 1991, hard on the heels of the secession of
Slovenia and Croatia. The newly independent Republic of Macedonia became
involved in a dispute with Greece, which saw the name as a potential
territorial claim against its northern province, also called Macedonia. In
April 1993 the UN admitted the republic with the unwieldy title "Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) until an as yet unrealized
settlement with Greece could be reached. The position of ethnic minorities,
especially Albanians, became more acute as Macedonia tried to forge an
identity independent of the broader Yugoslav union. In the 1994 census,
official records say that ethnic Albanians represented 23 per cent of the
total 1'936'877 inhabitants of north-west Macedonia, a percentage which rose
to 25 per cent at a 2002 census, out of total population of 2'022'547. Even
when Macedonia was within the Yugoslav Federation, Albanians where never
satisfied with their position, as they felt they were treated as
second-class citizens dominated by the Slav Macedonian majority,
discriminated against on language rights and in education, public
administration, and in state institutions such as the army and police. For a
while, ethnic Albanian and Slav Macedonian politicians were able to ensure
solid electoral backing by playing on ethnic divisions during elections, and
then joining forces in coalition governments. During the last two
governments, ethnic Albanian parties such as the Democratic Party of
Albanian (DPA) and the Party of Democratic Prosperity (PDP) secured a few
cabinet seats and diplomatic missions, but in 2001, the ethnic divisions,
which had been fostered by mainstream politicians, overflowed into armed
confrontations between ethnic Albanian guerillas and the state. 

Brink of civil war

At the very moment when it was being praised by the West for avoiding ethnic
bloodshed, the inherent contradictions of its political development pushed
the country to the brink of the civil war in 2001 during seven months of
fighting between ethnic Albanian insurgents led by Ali Ahmeti (now the
leader of Democratic Union for Integration, DUI). But war was avoided as all
political parties agreed to the Ohrid Agreement (sponsored the EU, NATO, and
the US), which granted more rights to ethnic Albanians. Since the end of the
2001 crisis, most of the agreement has been legislated for with no problems.
Proportional ethnic representation in public administration, state central
and local structures, and in the security forces has been accepted by
legislators. Since the Ohrid Agreement, Albanian participation in all public
administration sectors has grown, and in some areas doubled. Ahmeti's DUI
party has been in a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party
(SDSM) and the Liberal Party (LDP) since September 2002. 

Application for EU membership

Encouraged by a positive assessment of reforms on minority rights by the
Western powers, the government, then led by Branko Crvenkovski (now
president of the country since the death of former president and Ohrid
signatory Boris Trajkovski in a plane crash), applied for EU membership.
Croatia's application to enter EU integration negotiations has already been
accepted at the beginning of this year. Croat officials hope their country
will join EU together with Rumania and Bulgaria in 2007. The EU has said
that it will include the Balkan states, but only when they have met the
political and economic criteria set by Brussels. According to EU officials,
the Ohrid Agreement has become Macedonia's additional condition on its road
to Europe. Emma Udwin, European Commission spokeswoman told ISN Security
Watch, "We have said in our March report, that we want full implementation
of the Ohrid Agreement and especially on the decentralization package. It's
an essential condition but not the only one," Udwin said. Decentralization
was one of the "tickets" towards EU membership, but reforms in the economy,
governance, law and order must also be done properly as well, she told ISN
Security Watch, just days before the government reached its deal on
decentralization two weeks ago. Macedonia's March 2004 application to join
the EU is only the first step towards even being considered for membership.
Macedonia's application must first be assessed by the European Commission
before permission to enter negotiations is granted. The EU took 14 to 15
months to consider Croatia's application, but Macedonia could take even
longer, especially because of the controversy over the decentralization
package.


### 2 ###

http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200407_509_2_eng.txt

Macedonians Threaten Revolt Over Decentralisation 

Street protests calling for a plebiscite on laws that Macedonians say grant
too much to Albanians have brought ethnic tensions to boiling point.

By Tamara Causidis in Skopje (BCR No 509, 30-Jul-04)

While parliament debates a controversial law on new municipal boundaries,
opponents who claim it concedes too much to Macedonia's Albanian minority
this week claimed they had gathered more than 90,000 signatures aimed at
forcing the government to hold a referendum on the issue.

Legal experts say that if the opposition collects 150,000 signatures - the
figure stipulated in law as the number needed to oblige the authorities to
call such a vote - the government will have to go ahead with a poll. 

They will have to do so by August 23, however, as the law says those calling
for a referendum have a maximum of six months to collect the minimum number
of signatures; the six-month period expires on August 23.

The outcome of the vote will be delays to the process of decentralisation -
a key part of the 2001 Ohrid agreement that ended an ethnic Albanian armed
revolt - and the possibility of more referendums and protests to come,
intensifying ethnic tension and mistrust.

Most analysts agree ethnic tensions have not been so severe since 2001, when
Albanian guerrillas launched their insurgency demanding greater civil
rights. The six-month conflict ended with a western-brokered peace deal that
conceded to many of their demands.

But the last, crucial part of the Ohrid deal, laws on decentralisation,
which are seen as a key condition for the country's ambitions to join the EU
and NATO, have brought to light popular anger among the Macedonians about
the peace deal's provisions.

On July 26, thousands of Macedonians stood for hours in pouring rain in
front of the parliament in Skopje protesting against proposed new municipal
boundaries, which will see mainly Albanian communities merged into
municipalities dominated until now by Macedonians.

The Macedonian critics of the new laws say the moves to grant greater powers
to local authorities over health, education, some taxes and local economic
development, will enable Albanians to quietly "ethnically cleanse" the
districts under their control. 

Anger has focused on a clutch of Macedonian-majority towns that stand to be
merged into larger Albanian-majority districts, which Macedonians fear will
then lose their former character.

One flashpoint is Struga, in south-west Macedonia, where Macedonian
protesters on July 29 attacked the headquarters of the ruling Social
Democrats, trapping a government minister who had been sent to calm tensions
for hours inside a building. More than 40 people were injured in the clashes
between police and the crowd.

Another grievance centres on the future status of the capital. Skopje is to
become bilingual, with street signs and documents in both languages. There's
irritation over the fact that two Albanian villages will be incorporated
into the city to boost the number of Albanians and make Skopje eligible for
bilingual status. 

The peace deal stipulates that a minority language can only be made an
official one where an ethnic minority comprises more than 20 per cent of the
population. At present, Albanians make up 15.3 per cent of Skopje's
population but with the merger of these two villages, that figure will rise
to 21 per cent.

Defence Minister Vlado Buckovski, a key player in the negotiations over the
deal, said although it was clear that ethnic tensions in the country had not
dissipated over the past few years, it was too late now to renege on the
decentralisation laws.

"We now see that the efforts we made to boost trust between the communities
in the period since the crisis have not been enough to heal all the wounds,"
he said.

But he added that decentralisation was still a step that needed to be taken.
"In four years this will probably seem ridiculous," he said, referring to
the current furore. "Right now, it is something we have to do."

Analysts say the explosion of popular discontent stems partly from the way
the government and its coalition partners conducted their talks over more
than 40 days, with much hard bargaining between Macedonian and Albanian
representatives.

Mirjana Maleska, an expert on ethnic relations, told IWPR that the
protracted haggling had accentuated problems. "The way the government
negotiated on this issue caused chaos and ethnic tensions even were they did
not exist before, such as in Struga, where local people feel betrayed," she
said.

Even before the government had reached a final agreement on the new
boundaries, opponents had staged 41 municipal referendums all over the
country against the proposal. The government did not take them seriously,
however.

Maleska says a new, nationwide poll may be inevitable, but is unlikely to
achieve anything. "I'm afraid a referendum cannot bring much good but it
seems the Macedonians have no choice," she said. "They have their backs
against the wall."

Trifun Kostovski, an independent parliamentary deputy who supports a
plebiscite, says that it may be the only way to force the government to
change its course, adding that it has missed the main objective of
decentralisation by allowing the debate to focus on ethnicity.

"With this proposal, the government is creating a bi-national state and so
destroying the concept of Macedonia as a multi-ethnic state, which will only
worsen ethnic relations," Kostovski said.

The opposition parties endorse this view. Several parties, led by the
nationalist VMRO-DMNE, along with various NGOs last week adopted a
declaration condemning the proposals. "The national ethnic structure is
being artificially changed [in a way] that could only jeopardise
inter-ethnic relations," the declaration said.

They urged people to support the referendum initiative, launched by a
diaspora association called the Macedonian World Congress, led by Todor
Petrov.

"The only constitutional mechanism to stop this law is a state level
referendum," said Petrov, who runs the Skopje-based association, aimed at
promoting the interests of Macedonians at home and abroad. "I believe we
will collect enough votes for one." 

Legal experts say that if the opposition collects the 150,000 signatures
needed by the August 23 deadline, the parliament will have no choice but to
announce a plebiscite. "If a referendum is successful and over 50 per cent
vote against the law, parliament will not be able to pass the proposed law,"
said Renata Deskoska, a law professor at Skopje University. "If already
adopted, it will have to be withdrawn." 

However, even the initiative for a referendum, regardless of the outcome,
has already severely damaged ethnic relations, deepening the gulf between
Macedonia's two main communities. Moreover, the Macedonian call for a
referendum has met an echo among Albanians who are threatening to organise a
counter-referendum.

Vladimir Milcin, director of the Open Society Institute in Skopje, told IWPR
that a vote could open up an alarming scenario.

"In this referendum, Albanians will not participate," he said. "They will
make their response in a counter-referendum that could open up a process of
destabilisation and make way for a real division of the country."

Milcin added that the present initiative was "a very dangerous and
irresponsible game" and the work of people "who think they can profit from
the frustrations of the Macedonians. While screaming against the possible
division of the country they are de facto dividing it".

Analyst Ferid Muhic has a similar view. "Unlike Israel's concrete walls, we
are building walls of stupidity," he said. "Every delay [to the
decentralisation plan] will only worsen the situation."

The ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, led by Ali
Ahmeti, which is part of the government, has also warned of what it calls a
pattern of referendum and counter-referendum.

"This is not an appropriate moment for such an initiative, as it will plunge
the country into an endless cycle of similar initiatives to collect
signatures in both communities," Ahmeti said.

Ahmeti, a former guerrilla chief, has repeatedly reassured Macedonians that
he opposes any division of the country. "Macedonia is our country, my
homeland and together we will build the true values that lead us towards
Europe," he said recently, in an open letter.

Attempts to renegotiate the terms of the deal are unlikely to win support
from abroad. The international community has already given full support for
the government's package, repeating that the laws are a condition for
progress on Macedonia`s ambitions to join the EU and NATO.

Diplomatic sources warned that a plebiscite - "though a legitimate
democratic right," as one put it - will stall the decentralisation process
and move the country further away from the EU.

But voices urging calm have to struggle to make themselves heard against the
background of popular agitation, in which many ordinary people have been
caught up. 

"The Albanians are really pushing it. Macedonians will not accept becoming a
minority in their own country," said Nikola, 45, from Skopje. "Macedonians
will not stay to live in municipalities where Albanians are in control for
the Albanians have shown in the past and especially in 2001 that they have a
hidden agenda - a Greater Albania." 

On the other side of town, Muhamed, 26, an Albanian, said anti-Albanian
prejudice was all that lay behind Macedonian opposition to the new
territorial boundaries. "The main problem is simply that we are Albanians,"
he said. "What this revolt shows is that the Macedonians never really
accepted the peace deal."

"The way the Macedonians react about Struga one would think that somebody
was planning literally to take Struga and move it out of Macedonia," Gzim
Ostreni, vice-president of the DUI, commented. "This law will not make any
dramatic changes."

The next days will be crucial, as the municipal boundaries bills have to be
adopted by parliament by an August 7 deadline if local elections are to go
ahead as planned on October 17. If parliament fails to meet the first
deadline, local elections may also have to be postponed.

Some analysts say that the government is already showing signs of panic.
Government members have already hinted that they doubt the validity of the
signatures that have been collected.

"The referendum initiative is making them nervous," agreed Pande Lazarevski,
an analyst with the Institute for sociological, legal and political research
in Skopje.

Tamara Causidis is a journalist with Radio Free Europe in Skopje.

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From mentor at alb-net.com  Fri Jul 30 20:50:18 2004
From: mentor at alb-net.com (Kosova Crisis Center News and Information)
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 20:50:18 -0400
Subject: [Prishtina-E] 
 [Kcc-News] 1) Kosovo Braced for Autumn of Discontent; 
 2) Defectors from Leading Kosovo Party Threatened
Message-ID: <000101c47698$59c29f10$03fea8c0@linux>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
  Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News: http://www.alb-net.com/index.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------
 
1. Kosovo Braced for Autumn of Discontent
2. Defectors from Leading Kosovo Party Threatened

### 1 ###

http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200407_509_3_eng.txt

Kosovo Braced for Autumn of Discontent 

Constant power failures, worsening unemployment and a pervasive sense of
hopelessness make for dangerous cocktail, which some say can only end in
fresh violence.

By Arben Salihu, Muhamet Hajrullahu and Zana Limani in Prishtina, Gjilan,
Mitrovica and Jeta Xharra in Prizren (BCR No 509, 30-Jul-04)

On a rainy Tuesday morning, 25-year-old Arsim Graicevci sits at the Kaqa
cafe in Pristina and tries to compete with the deafening sound of the power
generator by humming the line of the George Gershwin song ?Summer time and
the living is easy?.

In fact, life in Pristina is anything but easy. ?The whole city has been
without electricity for the last 18 hours and the water goes off for seven
hours every night,? said Graicevci, over morning coffee. ?All that?s left
for me to do is joke about how life is supposed to be easy in summer, when
it is a far cry from the Kosovan reality.?

In divided Mitrovica, the town in northern Kosovo hit by violent ethnic
riots in March, the main square is filled with people mobbing passers-by
with offers of cigarettes and telephone cards.

Ismet, a telephone-card seller, says business is getting worse, ?People
would rather go and wait in line in the post office to pay 10 euro for a
card than buy it from us at their own convenience for 11 euro.? 

In the worst-case scenario, Ismet and his colleagues walk around the town,
or just sit out the afternoon drinking coffees in bars, if they have made
enough money to pay for them.

As international donor money dries up, unemployment rises, poverty deepens
and Kosovo's infrastructure crumbles, there are growing fears that public
dissatisfaction may erupt again, on much the same lines as it did in March. 

Miftar Bala, a miner, 41, recently demonstrated his unhappiness by holding a
15-meter-long slogan in front of the Kosovo parliament on July 14 in a
protest organised by the Association of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo,
BSPK.

Bala, a tired and desperate-looking man, and roughly 10,000 other
protesters, were demanding jobs, and better pay and conditions for workers,
as well as the privatisation of state enterprises. 

Zeqir Shkodra, an official in the BSPK, said the union would take more
radical measures in September if its requests were not met. 

?If our demands are not taken seriously by the international and local
institutions it might come to a boycott of the general election in October,?
Shkodra told IWPR. 

With 126,000 members, ranging from miners to teachers, doctors and civil
servants, the BSPK threat cannot be written off as a bluff. 

But workers? protests are only the tip of the iceberg of social and economic
discontent that is affecting most Kosovars. 

According to a June 2004 report by Riinvest, a development and research
institute, the official unemployment rate has increased by 30 per cent in
the last two years.

While international donations fell from 957.7 million euro in 2000 to 120.2
million in 2003, the number of jobless rose from 208,000 in December 2001 to
287,265 by February this year. 

Riinvest?s research also showed dissatisfaction with the workings of the
parliament of Kosovo has risen correspondingly by 10 per cent in roughly the
same period, from November 2002 to March 2004. 

Public disappointment is likely to be reflected in a low turnout by voters
in the October?s general election.

Ramiz Muja, 73, from Gjilan, 45 kilometres south-east of Pristina, is one of
many who say there is little point in voting if neither local nor
international institutions do anything to improve living conditions.

The local bodies, says Muja, ?say constantly that they have no power to
change things for the better in Kosovo but then insist we go out and vote
for them?. He asked, ?What?s the point of the exercise?? 

A report on Kosovo to be published this September by the United Nations
Development Programme, UNDP, highlights the growing alienation between
Kosovo?s population and the authorities, both local and international. 

?Parties have become increasingly disconnected from the people, politicians
are not accountable and party platforms are superficial, neglecting the real
needs of the population,? the UNDP report says. 

The most dramatic statistics in Riinvest?s research work concern the
standing of the UN authority in Kosovo, UNMIK, and its leader, the Special
Representative of the Secretary General, SRSG. Confidence in these bodies
has fallen by 40 per cent in the last two years, it says. 

This is especially disturbing, as it suggests UNMIK may be on the receiving
end of public anger in the event of another outburst, as the public holds it
largely responsible for Kosovo?s economic and social development.

Isa Mustafa, vice-president of Riinvest, says the international community
cannot duck its share of responsibility for the economic malaise in Kosovo.

?The international administration has a whole department led by EU in charge
of economic development,? Mustafa said, in a recent TV debate, entitled
Let?s Talk About Kosovo. ?It is they who are not doing much to create a
development strategy and policy for Kosovo.? 

UN officials, however, continue to insist that the economy is not one of
their priorities, as their mandated task is peace keeping. 

?The international community is not here to develop Kosovo?s economy,? one
senior official told IWPR. ?We are a temporary peacekeeping mission that
answers to the Department of Peace Keeping Operations in New York, not a
government answering to the pleas of voters or citizens.? 

Kosovo?s prospects look even grimmer from the viewpoint of Safir Berisha, as
he sits in Prizren?s Shadervan square, which once overlooked one of the
finest views in Kosovo ? a medley of colourful rooftops, old Ottoman-style
houses and ancient stone-paved lanes. 

Many of those rooftops were burned in the March riots, when some 700 Serb
and non-Albanian homes were attacked throughout Kosovo. 

Berisha, a representative of the War Veterans Association, uniting former
combatants of the armed struggle in the Nineties against Serbian forces,
says the current social, political and economical depression could easily
ignite into violence against the authorities, UNMIK in particular. 

?The Albanians once saw UNMIK as a patriarchal force whose word could not be
contradicted,? Berisha said. ?But that ice was broken in March and as soon
as the first stone was thrown we sensed it would be easier to do it again.? 

Berisha, a local leader of the second biggest party in Kosovo, the
Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, says he speaks first and foremost as a
veterans? representative, which he describes as ?the most badly affected
element of society?. 

While the main, Pristina-centred political parties are losing touch with
people on the ground, more militant groups, such as his War Veterans
Association, are taking over the grass roots with their populist,
anti-international discourse.

?We have held more than 30 meetings with people in villages around Prizren
this year, we listen to their problems and we can see people are in a
rebellious mood, ? Berisha said. ?They are very unhappy with what
international administration has done so far for Kosovo and have nothing to
lose.? 

What form Kosovo's discontent will take in coming months is far from clear.
The international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, claims it is taking no
chances and has boosted troops levels since the March riots.

Nexhmendin Spahiu, a political analyst in Mitrovica, says the deployment of
more soldiers is not the answer to the problem. 

?This is just the calm before the storm,? he said. ?But it can also be seen
as a chance for UNMIK and local institutions to improve both themselves and
the situation in Kosovo. If that doesn?t happen, another upheaval is likely
after summer.?

Bahri Shabani, leader of BSPK, on the other hand, insists that protests will
take a peaceful form, along the lines of the demonstration that the BSPK
recently organised. 

Either way, the current plight is not attractive to the kind of potential
investors whose funds might develop Kosovo's economy, and so reduce
unemployment and lower tension.

Shemsi Llapashtica, owner of a furniture workshop on the outskirts of
Pristina, says the poor electrical supply has hindered the expansion of his
business and, by extension, the employment of a larger workforce. 

?Machines break easily with such frequent and sudden energy cuts, and I
can?t afford to take on new workers who are going to spend hours every day
doing nothing and waiting for the electricity to come back,? Llapashtica
said. 

In Mitrovica, pensioner Ahmet Beqiri, 60, is convinced no improvement in
sight. ?I have seven sons aged 20 to 34 and not one is working,? he said.
?We can barely manage to get to the end of the month with my pension and the
small social security payment.? 

The dilemma is whether the extremists on the one hand, or the moderate
parties and international authorities on the other, will succeed in
channelling people?s anger and frustration. 

For Ramiz Muja, in Gjilan, the only certainty is that the coming autumn is
not likely to bring changes for the better, ?I don?t know if it smells of
gun powder, but one thing is for sure - it doesn?t smell good.? 

Arben Salihu, Muhamet Hajrullahu and Zana Limani are attending an IWPR
journalism course supported by the OSCE.


### 2 ###

http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200407_509_4_eng.txt

Defectors from Leading Kosovo Party Threatened 

Split in LDK ranks stirring passions, but unlikely in short term to displace
main party on Kosovo political stage. 

By Muhamet Hajrullahu in Pristina (BCR No 509, 30-Jul-04)

Edita Tahiri, once a high-profile member of Kosovo?s biggest political
party, the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, fears for her life after
deciding to quit and form a new political movement.

The former member of the party presidency, along with another woman
colleague, Edi Shukriu, abandoned the LDK to announce on May 27 that they
were forming the Democratic Alternative of Kosovo, ADK. 

In a sign of the violent passions this split has stirred, a shadowy
nationalist organisation called Homeland Security on July 12 warned those
leaving the party that their lives were in jeopardy.

?We warn all of you deserters that are trying to sabotage the work of the
LDK in the field that you will pay for this with your life,? the furious
message read. 

The letter writers made it clear they were targeting ?women rebels? like
Tahiri who had left the LDK.

The episode has cast a shadow over the run-up to October?s general elections
in Kosovo, when the territory?s inhabitants are to vote for a new
parliament. 

The LDK, led by Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo?s president, is the region?s oldest
ethnic Albanian grass roots political organisation. Since its formation in
1989, it has governed Kosovo Albanian society virtually unchallenged and has
taken more votes than any other party in every ballot. 

In the last general election in 2001, the LDK won 45.6 per cent of votes,
which was more than any other party but not enough to form a government
alone. As a result, Kosovo has been led since then by a fractious coalition
of the LDK, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and the Alliance for the
Future of Kosovo, AAK. 

Polls suggest the LDK?s support has slipped in recent months, which may
explain why defectors such as Tahiri have encountered such fury over their
moves. 

A survey in June 2004 by the Index Kosova survey, a Gallup International
partner organisation, says more than 10 per cent of those who backed the LDK
in July 2003 would no longer do so.

Critics say the LDK is unlikely to regain the voters? complete confidence if
it refuses to reform what they describe as its archaic, monolithic
character. 

After complaining that the police had not even contacted her ? let alone
offered her protection ? over the death threat, Tahiri says anxiety over her
personal security will not stand in the way of her campaign or cause her to
regret the split from the LDK. 

Outlining the reasons for leaving, she listed growing voter dissatisfaction
with the political process, manifested in the low turn-out in recent
elections, the lack of internal democracy within the LDK and an autocratic
management style, for which she blamed the centralist leadership of Rugova. 

?The March events made this split even more urgent,? she said, referring to
the outburst of ethnic-inspired rioting that saw several thousands Serbs
forced from their homes. 

?Since I did not manage to bring about internal changes in the LDK, though I
have been trying to do so since the end of the war, I formed a new party. It
is clear Kosovo needs to develop new political alternatives.? 

Whether any of these alternative forces will bite deep into the LDK?s
support base is open to question, however.

The ADK?s programme of ?independence, peace and prosperity? differs little
on the surface from the LDK?s own platform. 

Voters may warm more to Tahiri?s claim to fight current trends in Kosovo,
which she says have made ?leaders richer and citizens poorer?. 

The ADK insists the party will wage war on corruption in local and
international institutions and make economic development a priority, though
it stops short of providing detail of how this goal will be achieved. 

Analysts say this policy weakness may deny the new party the chance of
making a serious impact on the political scene.

Shk?lzen Maliqi, one of Kosovo?s leading commentators, says the LDK is not
likely to lose many votes imminently as a result of the breakaway group.

?This [new] political formation has had no time to consolidate its forces,
or to form a programme, so it will probably not manage to get more than two
seats in the [next] parliament,? Maliqi said.

?What would really have been an alternative for Kosovo voters is one big new
movement that would encompass all the new political initiatives, not many
new small entities which are unlikely to get more than 5 per cent of the
votes.? 

The other political novelties that Maliqi was referring to include a new
civic movement, named Ora, led by the prominent publisher and intellectual
Veton Surroi, and Azem Vllasi, a former prominent Kosovo communist leader in
the Tito era, who has now joined the Social Democratic Party of Kosovo,
PSDK. 

Movements such as Ora, the ADK and the PSDK will be competing among
themselves for voters disillusioned with the fruits of the LDK?s 15-year
existence and with the slow progress of Kosovar institutions since the end
of the war. 

The arrival of these initiatives clearly heralds a more democratic
atmosphere, but the best they can probably hope for at this stage is to dent
the LDK?s chances of forming the next government on its own. 

In the meantime, both police and politicians say they are puzzled as to the
identity of the unknown extremists standing behind the threat to Tahiri.

?I don?t think this shadowy organisation will influence people?s decision to
leave or not leave the LDK because nobody knows who they are or who stands
behind them,? Maliqi said.

Refki Morina, of Kosovo?s Police Service, KPS, told IWPR that the police was
taking the threat seriously and was investigating who was behind it. 

?The Regional KPS Unit and the international police are covering these cases
but we have not managed to discover anything specific for the moment,? he
said.

Muhamet Hajrullahu is attending an IWPR journalism course supported by the
OSCE.

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