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CONTENTS: October 28 ELECTION CAMPAIGN ROUNDUP
Both Koha Ditore and Bota Sot in today's editions carried reports from the rally of the Democratic League of Kosovo held yesterday in Prishtina. "Sitting between the OSCE head of mission in Kosovo Daan Everts, and Michael Schmunk, head of the German office in Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, was making his second appearance in front of Prishtina citizens. The LDK held a promotional rally on Saturday in Prishtina. Except for LDK officials and the two international representatives, the rally was also attended by officials of the PSHDK, the Bosniak SDA, the Justice Party and the Kosovo Liberal Party," reported Koha Ditore on page five. Greeted with numerous chants of his name, Rugova promised the crowd that the Democratic League of Kosovo would focus on the independence of Kosovo. "Independence should be recognized as soon as possible because it is a factor that would bring stability for the region," he said. Commenting on Kosovo's neighbors, Rugova said that the LDK would take initiatives in the aspect, but that "some neighbors are sometimes jealous for the successes achieved in Kosovo during the last two years." "We don't suffer from the conspiracy theory, but unfortunately Kosovo is surrounded by such who are interested to destabilize Kosovo and to unable its elections some still feel bad that Kosovo is going to have its parliament, president and an efficient government," Rugova emphasized. Rugova stressed that the Democratic League of Kosovo would focus on the economical development, the strengthening of the private sector, and the employment of new staff. Koha Ditore on page seven carried a report from the meeting between Kosovo Democratic Party officials and Prishtina citizens. According to the paper, the PDK officials told the citizens that when the party compiled its list of candidates it didn't focus to include people who did the most for the party. They said their demands were to include people who did more for Kosovo than for the Kosovo Democratic Party. Fatmir Limaj, PDK Secretary for Public Relations, was cited as saying, "the candidates of the PDK are maybe not perfect, but they are surely the best". He claimed that the candidates had to fulfill certain professional, moralistic and patriotic conditions. "We don't ask for a vote to defend Kosovo. We ask for your votes to build Kosovo and to democratize it. The time to defend Kosovo is over and now it is protected by NATO, UNMIK, KFOR, KPS and the KPC," said Limaj, adding that when his party asks for the vote of the people it doesn't divide them into good and evil. "Various political entities are dividing Kosovar citizens into good and evil. The PDK says differently. For the PDK all Kosovar citizens are sacred, regardless of their party affiliations and regardless of the party they vote for," Limaj added.
Koha Ditore on page two carried an interview which Nebojsa Covic, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia's envoy for Kosovo, gave to the Banjaluka-based Reporter. In case there is a decision for the Serb participation in the elections, you are left only with two weeks for an election campaign. Do you think two weeks are enough? I don't think we need a huge campaign. All we need to achieve is a high level of national homogeneity. In addition, it is also necessary to visit people and explain them both the decision and the respective manner in which the elections will be held. It is not true that the participation of Serbs in the Kosovo elections verifies the independence of Kosovo. It is also not true that the failure of Serbs to take part in the general elections in Kosovo doesn't verify the independence of Kosovo. Logically, who doesn't want the Serbs to take part in the elections? The Albanians! Who else? Certain structures of the international community. Both parties would in that case have an alibi for expelling Serbs from Kosovo. Therefore, this is the only basic fact we must rely on. There is always the same problem: the parliament will have an Albanian majority! Yes, it will have an Albanian majority, because Albanians are a majority and that is the reality. I am sorry, but even if it were the parliament of "the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija", it would still have an Albanian majority. However, we must not forget that through registration we have proved that Serbs in Kosovo are not three or five percent, but 15 - 20 percent. On the other hand, we have also proved that the Albanians are not 2 million. The complete voting body in Kosovo is 1,200,000, of which 180,000 are Serbs, around 100,000 are Bosniaks, and therefore the Albanian voting body is approximately 850,000. What are the concrete demands of the Albanians? I have asked them: gentlemen, what do you want? And they said, though they hesitated to some extent, that they want independence. We listened to them and then told them it is not possible. Then I told them to ask the international community. The international community gave them the same answer. Therefore we are far from each other, these are two issues, but in-between these two issues there is a lot of space to make agreements and hold talks, but not for the independence of Kosovo. How can Belgrade prevent the independence of Kosovo? Only in cooperation with the international community. Of course, Belgrade can make war, but I think that trying to find military solutions for certain problems are behind us, a part of the past. We have information that you told Albanians: "We can give a better beating than Milosevic". Yes, it is true. Unfortunately, we can always say that our people can fight. It is only left to see whether politics can manage the situation. Nonetheless, I don't prefer the version of confrontation, but rather for the version of politics and diplomacy. However, we cannot do anything without the international community. What do you make of the communication with Albanian leaders? I guess these are the first meetings after five-six years. The connections were completely cut off. Nonetheless, this meeting was not sufficient to see what is on the other side. I consider them our citizens, which were in the meantime excluded by a wrong policy in Kosovo. I don't think that a man can make agreements with everyone. Some of them left the room when I told them: OK, we can analyze Reçak, but let us also analyze the Serb grave in Prishtina. Some of them didn't like this, for example Haradinaj who left the room. What can I do when he has that problem. What about Thaçi? When it comes to Thaçi, I can say that he is a very interesting man. Harsh talks expect us. I am convinced that the majority of Albanian leaders talks about a multiethnic Kosovo during daylight, and work for the opposite during the night. It is because they give advantage to ethnic cleansing. Is this clear to the international community and the people you meet? Believe me it is clear to them, too. The mood is slowly changing. The international community cannot make drastic changes. We should be well aware of this. We have met understanding during the meetings I had with representatives of the international community, people with high and responsible functions. But, what do we run into here. We go to the Security Council. At the Security Council, there is a harsh debate between Haekkerup and I. We score. What is your cooperation with Haekkerup? I had five meetings with him, and none of them was easy. Unlike the others, our meetings, our meetings never lasted less than four hours, sometimes it happened that our meetings lasted for seven-eight hours. With others he talked only for an hour. The meetings are difficult, because Haekkerup doesn't make immediate decisions. He takes stances such as: we will see, we will discuss it, we will agree. I wouldn't mind that if I had more time. But our time, as of 3rd August, was very limited. I think he understands the problems and I cannot say that it is easy for him. Therefore, it is my obligation to help Haekkerup, but he must also help me, because he has to remove the barbwire between Prishtina and Belgrade, he must understand that he is Yugoslavia, he must understand another thing that he is in Serbia. Nothing more! Is it true that you have blackmailed Haekkerup with 2 million Deutsche Marks? No! It is true that we were for the electric power. This happened last year. UNMIK paid that amount of money to the EPS (Serbian Power Corporation). Now, a new bill has been sent to Haekkerup.
Quoting Jusuf Dedushaj, an epidemiologist at the National Institute for Healthcare in Prishtina, Koha Ditore on page one noted that there is no need for anthrax panic in Kosovo. Commenting on the matter, Dedushaj was cited as saying, "anthrax is an autochthon disease. There were always cases of anthrax in Kosovo." In addition, the paper reported that during the last ten years there were 118 anthrax cases in Kosovo, a disease which is well known to Kosovar epidemiologists, and which can be easily diagnosed in Prishtina. On the 25th October, the UNMIK Police station in Prishtina and the
Student Center received packages with suspicious substances, suspected of
being related to the anthrax bacteria. The National Institute of
Healthcare in Prishtina, which took the blood tests of 57 persons who were
in contact with the suspected substance, claims that there are no signs of
suspicion that the abovementioned could be diseases with anthrax. |