Koha Digest # 53

ROUND TABLE

"KOHA" IS NOT ORGANIZING THE ALBANIAN-SERB DIALOGUE

Much medial noise has been made about the recent initiative of
"KOHA" to organize Round Table "Kosova: perspective and
democratic possibilities". This news has been even broadcasted
by all correspondents of foreign media in Kosova.

The organization of the Round Table, as well as the list of

participants, which was elaborated not grounded on the idea that
their opinion represents the conviction of the Albanian or Serb
people, but because we considered that their information and
viewpoints would contribute to this Round Table, do not mean that
this is the "Albanian-Serb dialogue" (as Nasa Borba claims).
Finally, "KOHA" Editorial Board does not consider itself to be
a relevant institution which could organize an eventual dialogue
between the confronted parties. We thought that the organization
of such a Table, which would allow the presentation of relations,
disputes and Albanian-Serb perspectives from different
viewpoints, would be reasonable, because following the new
initiatives of the Serbian Movement of Resistance, new tensions
are expected by the end of the month.

EDITORIAL

THREE IMAGES IN AN EDITORIAL

Athens. Omonia, the main square. Asking for a direction in

English, I am replied in Greek. The pronunciation of Central
Albania's "r" is strongly heard. The instructor of the accurate
directions is surrounded by twenty eyes which are still holding
a part of the clay splendor of coppered soil.

Two Greeks stop a van and call the bunch. They choose two,
capable of doing construction work. The others go away. Later,
they will greet a compatriot coming back from the market. Today
he sold more avocados than yesterday. No, he didn't know a thing
about the regulation of their further status in Greece. The radio

The weekly Koha (The Times) was published in Prishtina (Kosovo) between 1994 and 1997. Edited by Veton
Surroi, a young Kosovar journalist and one of the pioneers of democratisation in former Yugoslavia, Koha
soon became a symbol of quality among the region's media. In 1997 it started to be published daily under the
name of Koha Ditorë. W ith the kind permission of Mr. Surroi, Koha digests were originally posted on
http://koha.estudiosbalcanicos.org.
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said nothing.

Upsala. An old university town. Two Kosova Albanians enter the

room where the conference on the right of speech in Albanian
lands in organized, and listen to the lectures. One of them, just
turned 35, approaches and asks how long with the situation, as
it is, last in Kosova. He is tired, he says. He has spent three
years in a refugee camp, asking himself the same question once
he stepped on Swedish land. There is no answer to his question,
this time neither. He asked it last time when a Swedish professor
and expert of the Albanian question had come to the camp to warn
the Albanians that they were creating a negative image in the
Swedish public opinion. The statistics prove that after these
visits, the number of crimes committed by Albanians decreased
some tens of percents. The fact that criminality among Albanians
has become a statistical category, is serious enough, it accuses.
The question without the answer is still more accusing.

Switzerland. A department store and in it, an American blonde

walks from one stand to the other. She looks behind to see
whether someone is following. Several steps ahead, three young
men, with their hands in the pockets show their lack of teeth
when smiling, inviting her, in German, to have a cup of coffee.
"Enough" - screams the American and the whole floor of the
department store turns in her direction. "I don't want to have
coffee with you, understand?". "We lost her too", said the young
men in Albanian. They just crease their arms and go out on the
street. A couple of steps away there is a young married couple
going to be "interviewed" upon their asylum request.

The Albanian daily that day, speaks of one of the days of the
past five years. A waiter, an Albanian, employed in a restaurant,
the day the Albanian daily started speaking of the ordinary
Kosovan days, goes through it rapidly, smoking a bit and again
going back to work...

REPRESSION

IT IS NOT REPRESSION, BUT GENOCIDE AGAINST ALBANIANS

by BAJRAM KELMENDI / Prishtina

In daily public communication, it has become ordinary to speak

and write about the violation of human rights and freedoms, and
even in occasions when we are referring to premeditated,
systematic and organized criminal actions of a state politic,
which aims at the extermination of a people, also, referring to
genocide.

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We can refer to violation of human rights and freedoms in cases
when these rights and freedoms exist in the legal system of a
state, when they are not respected as foreseen by juridical
provisions, when such human rights and freedoms are partially or
ostensibly being violated by state organs, when they are related
to racial, national, religious or any other discrimination, be
it juridical or societal discrimination in everyday life.

However, when the state organs of a state undertake premeditated,

systematic and organized actions against the members of one
people, aiming at the full or partial extermination of that
people, and in this direction they massively kill people of all
societal structures; when members of one nationality are
subjugated to permanent physical and mental tortures, with
serious consequences for their physical and mental health; when
systematic repressive measures which aim at the massive
emigration of members of one nationality from their homeland and
the change of the ethnic structure of Kosova through ethnic
cleansing; when through planned economic, political, judicial,
administrative, health-care, cultural-educational and other
measures a people is put under such living conditions which lead
towards its partial or full extermination, as the Serbian
repressive government is acting against the Albanians in Kosova,
then we are referring to a statal criminal politic which tries
to eliminate the physical existence of a whole people in its
ethnic lands. This is a typical criminal policy, and the actions,
departing from the motive, include the suspicion, that the
official Serbian policy towards Albanians, is lead grounded on
the postulates of Academician Vasa Cubrilovic, author of two
genocidal anti-Albanian elaborates, who says: "It would be good
if we could get rid of all Arnauts (Albanians) from here and at
once".

The systematic and brutal repression of the statal organs of

Serbia against Albanians in Kosova - is expressed in these basic
forms: through successive killings of innocent citizens; wounding
citizens by police firearms; serious physical injuries with
mechanic means during raids of houses and apartments; massive
torturing during the so called "informative talks" which
endangers the physical and mental health of citizens. This
repression is realized also in the form of the uninterrupted
searches of houses, apartments, shops, and especially during the
so called police expeditions, on which occasions villages,
certain neighborhoods and individual houses are besieged, and
then in early hours of the morning, brutal raids of homes and
shops take place, without the presence of citizens as witnesses,
accompanied by the subjugation of members of families to torture,
including women and children, in the form of illegal detention
which may last for hours and even up to three days. The attorneys
are denied the right to be present during the interrogation of

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the accused, the witnesses; they are denied access to the files
starting from investigations and up to the indictment. The
accused are always tortured and forced to sign false confessions;
the members of families are often taken hostage, in order to
force the accused to hand themeslves in; in the cases when the
person concerned is fugitive, then his family is usually evicted
from the apartments which are immediately settled by Serb and
Montenegrin policemen.

Albanians are deprived from the right to dispose of their

property as they wish, because nothing in Kosova can be sold,
bought or rented, if the Ministry of Finances of Serbia doesn't
approve. This approval is usually never issued promptly and it
is prolonged for months, a fact which paralyses any juridical
turnover. This is done with the motivation to prevent the
emigration of Serbs and Montenegrins from Kosova, but what does
this have to do in the cases when the contracts on the purchase
or rental of real estate are signed between Albanians?!

Finally, it must be stressed that this kind of massive repression

is done exclusively against Albanians. There is no repression
against Serbs and Montenegrins, and this fact is notorious and
needs no proofs. On the contrary, Serbs and Montenegrins are
favored in all aspects, because this is the inertia of the
official policy of the Serbian regime in Kosova. Special
programs, laws and measures have been adopted for this purpose,
and are intensively applied in Kosova with the purpose to
populate Kosova with Serbs and Montenegrins.

REPRESSION

PREMEDITATED TERRORIST ACT

B.H./Prishtina

Once, during a conversation about the trial against the Albanian

former policemen, attorney Fazli Balaj had commented that the
organs of State Security are conveying him threats through his
clients. He was transmited the message that his experience will
be worse than that of his clients if he doesn't give up on
talking about their case. Less than a week passed and Balaj
experienced the promised. This didn't affect his determination
to keep on revealing everything the Serbian occupier is doing in
Kosova and it was another occasion to talk to Mr. Balaj.

BALAJ: I don't know whether my case is related to the events

which have happened so far. My colleagues and I have been
threatened by the security organs, but we haven't taken them

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seriously. The reason why we were threatened was that we were
requesting the procedure to be respected. We were deprived of
this right, we were denied the right to participate in all phases
of the procedure. Until this case, the threats had been verbal,
but this didn't make the attorneys hesitate, because we believe
justice is on our side and we know that the threats are
premeditated acts of the regime to "discipline" us. The
provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law must be respected.

KOHA: What happened the night you were attacked?

BALAJ: On the critical night, I was home. I just had come in. The
bell rang and I approached the door. It has become normal to ask
who is ringing the bell.

A voice, in Serbian, said: "Neighbor, I have to ask you

something". I opened the door and stepped half-way out. I saw two
masked persons, armed with hand-guns and I immediately tried to
close the door. In vane, because one of them had put his foot
between the frame and the door, and was pointing his gun towards
my forehead. He hit me with the pistol's butt, I fell. Yet, I
managed to come out to the corridor and instinctively started
yelling, which made my neighbors come out and force these two to
escape. They were riding a white car, I suppose it was a "Lada".
A woman was waiting for them inside.

KOHA: Do you think this act was an attempt to discipline you,

several days before the trial against the ex-policemen starts?

BALAJ: I would say that this is a terrorist attack. We know that

there are such attempts against our colleagues. I don't know
whether this act is directed against Fazli Balaj, the attorney
or Balaj, the member of the Council for the Defence of Human
Rights and Freedoms. For the time being I can't accuse anyone of
this attack. I don't have sufficient proofs. I would like to be
wrong, but these were either para-militaries or some Serb who is
not happy with my activity. I will not exclude the possibility
of having being attacked by an official organ.

KOHA: Is there any similarity between your case and the previous
ones: Bukoshi, Krasniqi and Kadolli?

BALAJ: I don't know whether there are any similarities, but I

know that these forms will not make our determination to struggle
for independence and freedom disappear. I will not subjugate to
these threats and, with my work, I will reveal the Serbian
speculations and tortures against Albanians. This is my duty.

KOHA: Do you fear from another similar action?

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BALAJ: No reason for that. I am determined to stay in Kosova,
despite the threat. It would be a great weakness to leave and
surrender to the occupier.

KOHA: Could this become a phenomenon in the future?

BALAJ: I don't believe so, but it is likely to believe that such

forms can be used. This doesn't mean that something among the
people would change. It is not more tragic nor is it an
additional repression against us. I am sure we will resist this
one too. The important thing, for us, is to remain in Kosova.

REPRESSION

ARGENTINEAN SYNDROME OFFSHOOT?

by BATON HAXHIU / Prishtina

"On April 8, at 20,45 min. in Prishtina, in my flat located in

"Dardania", four unidentified persons, including one woman,
attacked me". This is what attorney Fazli Balaj writes in his
criminal charges form.

This is the fourth time, according to the documentation of the

Council for the Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF),
that our public and political personalities are subjected to such
attacks. The other three were Bujar Bukoshi, Abdyl Krasniqi and
Abdyl Kadolli.

Is the continuity if the Serbian repression entering a new phase

of repression and intimidation of Albanians, giving repression
the dimension of terrorism, as an extra-institutional and
mystified form, a phenomenon which is an offset of Falange
attacks and the Argentinean syndrome. Thousands of disappeared,
abducted and killed with never identified attackers, are the
worst forms of intimidation. As if the Serbian regime has worn
out all forms of institutional repression, and is now going
towards this new form of repression which, if continues, will
probably become a phenomenon.

An expert on these issues and the similar circumstances, the

veteran journalist Nehat Islami, euphemizes the fact that we have
the Argentinean syndrome appearing in Kosova. Giving this attack
against attorney Balaj the dimension of a non-ordinary attack,
he believes that the Serbian government is applying this form in
a very legal way, therefore there are no reasons to apply the
methods that cause the anger of the international public - the
Argentinean methods. The Serbian forms of terror are open, they

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don't fear anyone, and this repressive regime does not have any
need to use secret attacks because it is trying to achieve its
goals through the legal forms which it covers with the "Albanian
articles" in the Criminal Code.

This regime is conscious, continues Islami, that the spiral of

the Argentinean syndrome could create, further on, counter-
actions, which could cause the Lebanese atmosphere, which does
not suit this regime. Here, there can't be organized forms of the
Argentinean type, because the terror against the Albanian people
is applied through legal forms, because it is not responsible to
anyone: international organizations nor resolutions, rejecting
any corroborated accusations of genocide against Albanians.
Judged upon this and linking it to the recent attack against
attorney Balaj, his colleague, Destan Rukiqi, adds that these are
known forms applied by occupying regimes to prevent the political
and professional activity of the activists who are openly
fighting against this occupier.

Looking into it realistically, this repression is entering a new

phase and does not differ much in the sense of continuity, but
since this regime has not found a new form to intimidate
Albanians and their subjugation, maybe it will try to make such
attacks that can be defined as terrorist attacks. This proves
that the Serbian authorities ate trying to capitalize the
repression for hegemonic purposes.

The classification of the "Balaj case" as a terrorist attack is

also done by Islami from the CDHRF. He claims that it is so and
that it is still hard to define who ordered or conducted it.
There are indicators that it was committed by Serbs, the police,
para-militaries, but it is hard to define it.

It is not the first case of the kind in Kosova. The previous

victims were Bujar Bukoshi, Abdyl Krasniqi and Abdyl Kadolli. The
first was kidnapped by security organs and no one knew of his
whereabouts for several days, Krasniqi was kidnapped on the
street and "disappeared" for some time and finally Balaj was
beaten in his own apartment and was saved by his neighbors. The
only dilemma is whether there is any parallelism between these
cases and could this become a phenomenon? Rukiqi considers that
the previous cases are similar to the recent one because there
was an attempt to kidnap Balaj, and the act proper had elements
of terrorism, aiming at the intimidation of the public
personality. All of them were subjected to psychological violence
and were threatened with execution. In his opinion, it is still
not certain whether it will become a phenomenon or not.

Islami, on the other hand, considers that there is parallelism

between the mentioned cases, but differ from one-another from the

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modus operandi. Krasniqi was taken on the street by the police
and taken to the police station, which does not make it a
kidnapping case, meanwhile the last case is a terrorist attack
against a public personality.

It is also said that the attack against Balaj is a warning

directed to the attorneys telling them to be careful about their
statements and their work, especially in relation to the trials
taking place in Prishtina against Albanian ex-policemen. Their
statements were published in the West, and have even more
affected the image of Serbia in the eyes of the West. The
question is: is there any similarity between this case and
similar cases occurred in Palestine?

Nehat Islami says that Palestine has experienced a very few cases
of the Latin-American syndrome. Nevertheless, the Israeli secret
services have eliminated the Palestinian activists in other
forms. Then, in many other cases, the former heads of information
agencies, as MOSSAD for example, claim that in 1973, in Beirut,
they eliminated three PLO political leaders, the head of the
Palestinian police Abu Hassan and finally Abu Jihad, the
responsible person of the Palestinian armed forces. This happened
in Tunisia. Not to mention tens of PLO representatives around the
world. There is no parallelism between Kosova and Palestine, in
this sense, right now. It is well known that during Communism,
UDB (State Security) has liquidated many opponents throughout the
world, including Albanians, however, in the past years similar
cases have not been evidenced or clarified.

REPRESSION

INTIMIDATION AS WAR

by ZENUN ÇELAJ / Prishtina

Totalitarian dictatorship grounds itself on terror, and it is

destroyed without terror - Czech philosopher Ivan Svitak used to
say. This would be one side of the medal, which reflects the
intensification of the terror applied against Albanians in Kosova
by the Serbian military-police regime. The other side is fully
transparent - the expansion of domination on alien lands and
people, in our case, the rapid and quiet ethnic cleansing of
Kosova, differing from the other directions of the Serbs
pretensions, where, because of the armed resistance, Serbia has
engaged all its warring machinery just to achieve it's purposes,
and it is making one of the worst and barbarian wars in history.

With all its evident effects, but also provisional, of this

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Great-Serbian strategy, Serbia seems to be dissatisfied with what
is has achieved in Kosova. Since it probably expected an armed
resistance from Albanians in Kosova, which would give it enough
grounds to act freely in the sense of the realization of its
intentions, as it did at the end of the last century when it
expelled hundreds of thousands of Albanians from Toplica and
spread southwards, it was not ready for this kind of war, and in
the past five years it applied all sorts of terrorist methods
which didn't bring anything expected.

It poisoned people massively; it killed; it is struggling to make

people starve; it is arresting and sentencing people to prison;
it has applied segregation and apartheid; it has violated
brutally every individual and collective right. Now it has
started applying Mafia's methods: attacking individuals
perfidiously, as in the case of the human rights activist Fazli
Balaj, several days ago.

The method of intimidation through the savage campaign of the

alleged search of weapons, which were not found, in Albanian
homes, and the escape before this terror, seem not to have given
the expected results, and neither did the forcible draft of young
Albanians to the Serbian army which doesn't and will not need
them. The Kosovan villages were not emptied and the land is still
ploughed; as if schools and faculties don't notice much the
temporary absence of young students. The intellectuals still
remain unshaken. Kosova is not settled by hundreds of thousands
of Serbs, as colonization plans foresaw it. The installed police-
military regime can't escape the suspicion that it is applying
Falangist methods to scare Albanians off, not to make them leave
any more (fortunately all doors towards the West are closed
down), but to shut their mouths, to discipline them in accordance
with their aspirations, even though so far, it has not been
successful. Fazli Balaj stated that what happened to him
motivates him to get even more engaged in the defense of human
rights and freedoms of Albanians.

This occasion proves a statement of a French philosopher, Franz

Fanon. In his work "The Humiliated of the World", speaking of the
effects of the French terror in Algeria and using the words of
a colonized Algerian, ascertained: "The fighting, terrorizing or
killing of our brothers only strengthen our determination to
struggle until we achieve the victory, renews our emotional life
and enriches our imagination. When the whole nation is moving,
then the new man is not borne as an additional consequence of the
creation of that nation, but on the contrary, he is created with
it, it develops and triumphs". We fear that the terrorist - mafia
methods of the regime might inspire the oppressed to fight with
the arm of the oppressor. Then the regime would have to have a
policeman or a soldier for every Albanian. Will that be possible?!

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KOSOVA

HUMANITARIAN MONITORING FOR KOSOVA

by ASTRIT SALIHU / Prishtina

Kosova is not part of the war seized territories, but is part of

the regions under constant threat of war. There are not hundreds
of thousands of refugees in this part of the Former Yugoslavia.
Nevertheless, the Kosovan population, if we take the presence of
international humanitarian agencies in Kosova as a parameter, is
by all means endangered, and is one of the most vulnerable
populations on the territories of the Former Yugoslavia,
following Bosnia and some parts of Croatia.

Currently there are over 14 organizations and humanitarian

organizations working in Kosova. They are of different profiles,
starting from the ones offering medical assistance up to UNHCR.
The wide spectre of these organizations proves that a large part
of the population is being assisted. Because, a simple
calculation of the assistance provided by 14 organizations and
associations, should lead us towards the total value of what
enters Kosova, not in money, but in different forms of assistance
in medicines, food and clothes, among others.

In order to find out more about what was previously mentioned,

we approached these organizations and asked them three questions
of the same content about their character, whom do the
organizations/associations assist and what is the (amount of)
assistance they have offered since they opened their offices in
Kosova.

However, it is very strange that we have not received any

concrete answers from any organization, but UNHCR. In a way, all
of them have evaded the answers and concrete facts, either
because this data is available in their central offices in
Belgrade, or because they didn't have the time to meet with us.
The impression we get is that asking for data on humanitarian
assistance is as if we were trying to discover a top secret. One
of the humanitarians we spoke about the evasions to give
explanations, gave us a very interesting answer: "We are talking
about the humanitarian market (!) of goods and means for
humanitarian assistance. Thus, for example, we have UNHCR and
ECHO, which in a kind of financing race, conceal the data on the
distributed assistance".
Nevertheless, a large amount of humanitarian aid is distributed.
This is an undeniable fact.

The list of humanitarian organizations and associations also

includes SOROS Foundation which, apart from cultural and

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informative projects, has its humanitarian programs. This
Foundation distributes assistance in Kosova too, as they told us,
"for refugees and the Albanians in general". However, the
assistance distributed to Albanians goes through "Mother
Theresa". The assistance dedicated for Kosova is equally divided
between the Clinical-Hospital Center and "Mother Theresa" and
this includes medicines and other medical equipment. This also
involves non-material help, as is the foundation of psychological
counsels for refugees, refugee newsletters, etc. The humanitarian
assistance of this Foundation covers the refugee collective
centers in Kishnica, Peja, Lesak, Istog but, differing from the
others, also the one in De‡an inhabited by refugees or asylum-
seekers from Albania (1200 people who are not comprised in the
lists of the other international organizations and institutions,
since they don't have status of refugees coming from war seized
territories). The responsible in this Foundation claim that in
1994, Kosova has received assistance in medicines and other forms
worth 200 thousand dollars, not including the financed project
of the construction of the hospital in Sht‰rpce, worth 600
thousand dollars, which is being done in cooperation with Doctors
of the World.

Differing from humanitarian organizations which are dealing with

concrete distribution of material assistance in Kosova, there are
two more which must be mentioned: Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
and Doctors of the World (DOW), not doing any concrete
distribution, but are offering their professional medicinal
assistance. MSF is present in Kosova since 1992 and is mainly
researching the reasons why diseases are spreading in Kosova.

They are mainly centered on collecting epidemiologic data and

following the hygienic and sanitary situation. As François
Darolles declared, this organization has centered its work mainly
in Mitrovica, doing research. All research is done in cooperation
with the official structures. However, the explorations are only
the first phase, then the detection of the diseases also attracts
the distribution of medicines. The project they just closed last
week, and which lasted about 8 months, was worth cca. 8 thousand
ECUs. "Naturally, it is hard to determine the value of the
assistance in medicines, because we receive them and we don't
know how much they cost", says Darolles.

Doctors of the World, on the other hand, are also very active in
Kosova, and are also mainly concentrated on the epidemiologic
data and following up on the situation, mainly in regard to
Tuberculosis. DOW is active in Kosova since May 1994. In July
1994, it opened a dispensary in Ferizaj. As Dr. Waichi Wong,
epidemiologist, says, this organization "does not bring medicines
and medical equipment, but only makes the research and necessary
evidence for further prevention". Carolyn Cline, also from DOW

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says that "they see to it that the field work evidence is data-
processed, so the doctors in Kosova could use them once DOW
people leave Kosova".

The assistance offered by this organization can't be comprised

in determined material figures, but can only be evaluated
according to their professional effects, determining and fighting
against infectious diseases, especially TB.

When it comes to material assistance offered by international

organizations, we must mention the International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and also UNHCR. The Red Cross
organizations didn't offer us many figures about their activities
in Kosova. ICRC - Belgrade Office, offered us only general
information about the activities of this organization, however,
it referred to the Former Yugoslavia in general. It is very hard
to know what would the percentage of participation of Kosovans
be in all these figures, since the categories of people
endangered during the period of war have increased so much that
Kosova can't participate in these figures only with the
percentage of its population. This is why any attempts to try and
figure our the assistance provided in Kosova were a priori
unsuccessful. The data ICRC offers is the following: in 1994,
ICRC has distributed on the territory of the whole Former
Yugoslavia 33 metric tons of food and non-food items. It is not
known what is the assistance that Kosova got, if any.

On the other hand, IFRC has assisted around 400 refugees and 1000
institutionalized social cases per month. So far, this
organization has distributed 130-300 metric tons of food,
clothes, hygienic items and medicines per month.
UNHCR has complete data on the distribution and humanitarian
assistance. The first category of beneficiaries, because of the
character and mandate of this organization, is made up of
refugees. According to UNHCR data, there are 3114 refugees which
are being assisted in all municipalities of Kosova, in collective
centers or host families. Naturally, this organization assists
social cases in the regions where it works. In Kosova, UNHCR has
been assisting 4.798 institutionalized social cases. Finally, the
number of UNHCR beneficiaries comprises 7.912 people.

It is still uncertain what would really be the amount of

assistance which has reached Kosova and which has been
distributed here. Maybe in the near future, the presentation of
this data will be possible, but for the time being, there are no
accurate figures on this.

Nevertheless, despite the attempts of the Serbian government to

present the Albanians as a non-endangered population, the sole

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fact that there is such a concentration of humanitarian
organizations and associations in Kosova proves that the Kosovans
are a vulnerable population of the Former Yugoslavia. The
insisting of the relevant Albanian political forces to have
Kosova under an international trusteeship or be provided with
international monitoring of the political situation, has been
realized only in one unfortunate segment, humanitarian
monitoring.

MACEDONIA

GERMANS IN MACEDONIA: THE WISH IS THERE

by IBRAHIM MEHMETI / Shkup

If there were a practice or need to name weeks according to the

main events, then last week would have been named "Kinkel's
week", in honor of German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, who
visited Shkupi on April 11. Kinkel's visit was announced one week
beforehand in all media, while "Puls", a weekly in Macedonian,
published an interview with Kinkel five days before he arrived.

On of the reasons for the big publicity was the fact that Germany
is precisely one of the states which has the least understanding
for Greek's embargo against Macedonia. Then, the interests
increased after a series of speculations claiming that Kinkel was
arriving with a package of solutions of the Greek-Macedonian
contest and that he was willing to take over the role of the
mediator. On the other hand, the interest for Kinkel's visit also
arose with the speculations about the eventual change of the
composition of UNPROFOR in Macedonia (renamed to UNPREDEP),
meaning, having German soldiers as members of these forces.

During his one day visit, Kinkel met with the highest ranked
officials including President Gligorov. After the meetings, he
had a press conference and informed about the contents of the
conversations. From what he said at the press conference, it
comes out that the excitement was exaggerated, however Kinkel
mentioned some things that might justify the public's interest.
After expressing the usual courtesy words about the bilateral
relations, the German minister did not hide his concern about the
Greek-Macedonian bout, which, as Kinkel put it, is of
extraordinary importance for the maintenance of stability in this
part of the Balkans. He repeated Germany's standpoint about
Greek's blockade and it's veto on Macedonia's admission in OSCE.

We, he said, became solidary with Greece, our partner, however,

we have never concealed our dissatisfaction with such a step and

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we have openly declared ourselves against this posture. In this
press conference, the German minister denied the speculations
that he might have come with a package of solutions and at the
same time declared that his country will try to help as much as
possible in the solution of this contest. In regard to the
speculations about UNPROFOR, Kinkel said that nothing of the kind
has been requested from Germany, and if this happens then the
German government will discuss it and make a proper decision. On
this occasion, he did not comment whether his country would be
happy if such a request comes or not.

Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that in this press

conference, Kinkel said something that caused a new wave of
speculations. It refers to his statements after meeting Greek
Foreign Minister Papulias and his deputy Mangakis: "...my
impression is that there may be an eventual improvement of the
relations between two states (Greece and Macedonia)". However,
he didn't clarify which were elements that caused this
impression, and thus gave enough grounds for different
speculations before the awaited Greek-Macedonian conversations.

Finalizing his visit, the German minister met with the Macedonian
opposition parties and had a joint meeting with Albanian parties,
regardless of their position. Gert Arens was also present in
these conversations, but only as an observer. Even though this
(brief) meeting didn't produce a concrete conclusion, the
Albanian collocutors do not conceal their satisfaction because
the foreign minister of such an important state, Germany, has
expressed special interest to meet with the Albanian political
representatives and be informed about their societal status. The
truth is that the German minister mentioned the inter-ethnic
relations the least, although he did mention them, praising
Macedonia, which, as he said, could serve as an example for the
regulation of inter-ethnic relations in other former Yugoslav
states. On this occasion he expressed also the contribution of
Germany with the fact that mediator Arens is a German diplomat.
In regard to Arens, as we were informed, he will visit Macedonia
within a fortnight, and it can be supposed that his visit will
be dedicated maybe fully to the inter-ethnic relations,
especially the University of Tetova, which seems to have
hibernated after the arrest of Rector Sulejmani and his
collaborators, who are awaiting trial.

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MACEDONIA

TWO THEMES WITH MANY DILEMMAS

by SELADIN XHEZAIRI / Shkup

Public opinion in Macedonia usually gets first hand information

about events concerning Macedonia from Greek sources. This is not
only referring to the (non) continuation of the Greek-Macedonian
negotiations, to which Shkup's official diplomacy has reacted
late, but also events which, according to unwritten rules, must
be of main importance for Macedonian officials and media.

Such a thing happened with an article published in New York

Times, originally qualified as sensationalistic, which arrived
in Macedonia as a retransmissions of Athens' press (!) about the
voyage of an equipment for fuel extraction, starting from Iran,
with Serbia, i.e. Eastern Slavonia as final destination!
The above mentioned equipment loaded on 100 trucks, actually
should go through, at least, three Balkans states: Bulgaria,
Greece and Macedonia. Following the rumors, on April 10, your
correspondent was confirmed the news by the Macedonian Customs:
high-ranked official Shaban Zendeli said that Macedonian
authorities, as well as SAMCOM (sanctions' monitors)
representatives knew about this unusual transport, and while the
other organs claimed not to know a thing, Zendeli admitted that
on April 6, six train wagons carrying suspicious goods, similar
to the one mentioned by the Greek media, grounded on the
discoveries of New York Times, were stopped at Gevgelija. "The
perforation equipment", claims our collocutor, "was confiscated
in the presence of international monitors". However, Macedonian
authorities have still not made any public statements about the
matter- which is deeply against the UN resolution on the
sanctions against Serbia and Montenegro- and thus allow the media
to built up this serious mosaic pursuant to information coming
from reliable sources. Thus, the result was that there were not
6 or 13 wagons, respectively trucks, but a total of 16 trucks.

There is also information that some of the "suspicious" trucks

have reached their final destination (daytime or nighttime, it
is not important), thus opening a series of nasty questions.
In fact, when all of this was revealed, it came out that the load
had changed addresses several times, and that several Macedonian
enterprises are mentioned as recipients of the cargo; there are
also rumors "about implications of high-ranked officials of
neighboring countries" and also rumors that this "project" had
been well planned long ago; that the enterprises implied in this
matter were barely found in the register, and that even some of
them disappeared, while analysts don't exclude the fact that they
might have been created "for these particular capital ventures"...

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And while there still is no end to this story, there are many
dilemmas about who might be implied, because there are strong
grounds to believe that the whole contingent could not have gone
through without the "blessing of someone from above"... The
implication of other states, Iran, Greece and Bulgaria, is also
discussed. It is known that the Iranians discussed with Greek
officials, and the latter, it was not hard for them to "talk to
as old friends and allies" with Belgrade officials, not leaving
aside the fact that the contacts of Macedonian and Serbs
economists have started intensifying.

Last week, a long article in the pro-governmental "Nova

Makedonija" re-actualized the functioning of the "rule of law":
it informs about the expulsion of four nationals of Jordan,
activists of the IGASE humanitarian organization, seated in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is claimed that the expelled, including
the head of the Shkupi office - Muhammad Iktal, had acted in
Macedonia from the positions of Islamic fundamentalism. This
organization is also accused of having had the Belgrade Mufti,
political leaders from Sandzak and Kosova and of some legal
parties in Macedonia on it's "payroll". No further details are
given.

ECONOMY

OVERWHELMED POLICE

by I.R./ Prishtina

The Financial Police has collected much more than expected in

Kosova. In the first three months of this year, either in
organized raids, or the regular cash in, 29,3 million dinars, or
according to Avramovic's rate, that many German Marks, have been
poured in Serbia's budget from Kosova alone. The largest amount
comes from the taxes on salaries, turnover taxes, different other
taxes and finally confiscation of goods, which later became cash
money. During extraordinary check-ups alone, the police collected
7,8 million dinars, which is a huge amount of money knowing what
the volume of payments and turnover of goods in this poor area
is like.

Compared to other centers, where without any doubt the consuming

ability of citizens is much bigger, then Prishtina, i.e. Kosova,
is in the last place. As it was expected, the largest amount of
money was gathered in Belgrade - 92 millions, then in Kragujevac
(tax region that includes Sandzak) - 70 millions, Nish - 54,7
millions and Novi Sad - 53,5 millions. Regardless of the fact
that Kosova, in all these amount, participates with only 9,7%,

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nevertheless, this is a big burden it was subjected to through
plunders, because Kosova could never make up one tenth of the
turnover or payments of the self-proclaimed Yugoslavia.

Expressing figures statistically, the engagement of the Financial

Police in Kosova in the first three months is as follows: there
were a total of 5.695 controls, 1.664 irregularities, 23
enterprises were banned and misdemeanors charges were pressed
against 799 persons. It is characteristic that the participation
of Kosovan enterprises is the highest in the area of "ban of
activities", for Nish and Kragujevac experienced a smaller amount
of cases.

ECONOMY

"TREPÇA" IN DREAMS

by IBRAHIM REXHEPI / Prishtina

Once, late Tomislav Sekulic, had declared at the Parliament of

the self-proclaimed Yugoslavia that "Trepça" produced for the
British, later for Germans and after World War II for Albanians,
and "when we cleansed it from separatists, ie. when we took it
in our hands, it was destroyed". Such an ascertainment has much
in common with reality, since from the first day exploitation
started, somewhere before the forties, this metallurgic and
mining giant, had never been in a deeper crisis, or almost facing
a dead end. Despite the statements which march down the Serbian
media, that "Trepça" is resuscitating, that the Serbian state is
investing in new production, the truth is totally different:
6.500 people are employed in "Trepça", and 2.800 people are on
compulsory or sick leave, for a long period of time no metals
have been extracted, it seems as if the refinishing chain is
totally out of function, except in some rare cases when Vushtrri
tin appears in the market. This situation can't be characterized
otherwise but as the silent destruction of "Trepça".

Looking at it realistically, "Trepça's" perspective starts being

affected in 1988/89, in times of political events which were
started by the miners, from the marches through towns up to the
hunger strike. It was clear then, that nothing could be said
about its economic prosperity. Even though not only during these
years but even earlier, many things in the economic aspect were
unclear, there were some visions on how to overcome the difficult
situation and strengthen this giant which once employed 27
thousand people.

Aziz Abrashi, the last Albanian director, says that the material

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basis then was poor, but he potential we grounded ourselves on
was giving hope. The lead refinery had the capacity of 151
thousand tons of metal ore, lead electrolysis could produce 50
thousand tons of metal, and we were working on the extension of
its capacities and the increase of production for additional 30
thousand tons, we produced 34 thousand tons of batteries, and at
the same time we produced 113 tons of silver and 273 kilograms
of gold, of high quality. Therefore, what we achieved then,
should have not been underestimated, and "the fact that the gold
that Trepça produces is not good even for a pair of teeth" was
not a true statement.

However, everything is linked to the general events in Kosova.

The expulsion of miners and their replacement with miners from
Serbia, Montenegro and even from Bosnia and Herzegovina failed
at the start. A forcible manager of Trepça in 1991 had declared
that "instead of getting miners we got drunkards, and the most
exploited raw material is alcohol". On the other hand, any
ignition of the high-ovens was announced pompously, qualifying
it a victory of the new rule in Kosova - the Serbian rule.
If there were condition to bring back all the dismissed workers
to Trepça, to open the market and have even foreign capital
flowing in, it is very hard to say when would it become strong
enough again. The fact that the majority of the galleries are
flooded since some time, as is the case with Stantërg, Kishnica
and Novobërda mines, and that part of the equipment has
deteriorated, has been destroyed or demolished since it quit
being used. However, the old problem is the lack of
synchronization of capacities. The lead metallurgy, zinc
electrolysis as well as the other producing capacities were very
large compared to the possibilities the mines had. This meant
that the producing capacities didn't have enough raw material,
and this is why Trepça often bought lead or zinc concentrate.
Otherwise, the explored reserves are large, i.e., they promise
a long life for this combine. The supposition is that Stantërg
has 18,9 millions of tons of reserves of different metal ores,
Novobërda has around 10 million tons and Kopaonik mines around
5,6 million tones of ore. The analyses made ten years ago
ascertained that this quantity of ore could allow the production
of 227,4 tons of silver per year, while the amount of gold which
could be produced was top secret.

If we purposely leave aside the economic logic, which in these

circumstances can't help us draw a normal conclusion, it should
be nevertheless said that the ore is waiting for the miners, and
which will they be, Serbs, Albanians, English, Germans or any one
else, will depend on the political solution for this area.

Serbia attempted to convert Trepça into state property through

transformations. According to the documents, it managed to do it,

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since it owns 63,6% of the stocks, while the other stock-holders
are other banks and state enterprises. This means that, according
to its present status, Trepça belongs to the state, a status
which was not accepted by the ones who used to work here, for the
whole transformation was done without their consent.
Now, there is a list of managers appointed by Serbian state
organs, but none of them brought anything new or a hope that the
former giant would revive. Jovanovic came after Pavicevic, and
then came Ilic and finally it was Bijelic, but in essence,
nothing changed, apart from having more losses. Last year, Trepça
"produced" a minus worth 39 millions of dinars or that many
German marks according to the official course, while its duties
comprise a total of 84,4 million dinars. In order to start
production it needs over 12 millions of dinars and 3 million and
260 thousand dollars. This figure too can be taken with a lot of
reserve, since the recuperation program foresees only the
segments which Serbia actually needs, as is the production of
lead and other strategic material, and this doesn't make the
whole of "Trepça". Today, no one can provide such a capital, not
to mention the business banks in Serbia, whose managers once
declared that "we are not willing to finance the failures and
appetites of the rulers in Kosova".

On the other hand, Albanians could not consolidate "Trepça" so

fast either, and use it for their own purposes. A new fact should
not be forgotten: Serbs, of course, the ones who are holding
power, are interested to have as many Albanians involved here.
There are indications which prove that there might have been
talks with former managers trying to convince them to take over
the giant, but so far, none of them has accepted this. Any
negotiation, according to one of participants in these
conversations who wishes to remain anonymous, has a strong
political element, therefore it does not depend from the
individual's state of mind.

All of "Trepça" is being ruined, apart from the ores deep in the
soil. Their further exploitation will be difficult, say the
dismissed Albanians miners, because the mines were exploited
without any plans, which might mean that the security columns
might have been also ruined. So, who is gaining anything from
this situation? No one. Serbs, especially the ones holding power
in Kosova today, can deal with this problem every day, as
Vekoslav Sosevic, minister in the Government of Serbia does,
declaring on a daily basis that "Trepça" is being activated with
a large participation of Serbian capital, but in essence it only
remains a symbol which reminds you of the past, when this was the
basis of the economic development of Kosova. Albanians have
nothing to lose, or maybe haven't even calculated that they would
gain something more in these circumstances. We would, as an
answer, mention what Bilall Neziri, the representative of 51

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families from Stantërg who knocked on the doors of the Trade-
Union officials of the Republic of Kosova asking for assistance,
said: "Finally, 22 families got 25 kilos of flour each. This is
what we gained".

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APPENDIX

J A V O R E / Albanian weekly

P.O. BOX 202

38000 PRISHTINA

Issued by the KOHA Editorial Board

English Edition: KOHA

Contact Person: Filloreta Bytyqi

Phone & Fax: +381 38 31 031

+381 38 31 036
Modem: +381 38 31 276

E-Mail: koha_pr@zana-pr.ztn.zer.de

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