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9 January 2002
CONTENTS:
1. INTERNATIONALS
DEMAND VOTES FROM PDK AND AAK
2. SHALA: KOSOVO IS FORTUNATE
THAT HAS TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE POST OF UNMIK CHIEF
3. FORMER COMKFOR CABIGIOSU
CANDIDATE FOR UNMIK CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR
4. ALIU: WHY IS THE LDK
SILENT?
5. THIS IS THE PRICE OF
POVRATAK VOTES
6. TWO VERSIONS OF THE
DEATH OF A BEAUTIFUL GIRL
7. DEATH OF THE SERB IN
DARDANA WAS AN ACCIDENT
1. INTERNATIONALS DEMAND VOTES FROM PDK AND AAK
Hashim Thaçi, leader of the Kosovo Democratic Party (PDK) held
separate talks on Tuesday with Tom Koenigs, deputy chief administrator
in Kosovo, and John Menzies, the head of the US Office in Prishtina, Koha
Ditore reports.
Fatmir Limaj, secretary for foreign relations at PDK, confirmed the meetings.
"During the meeting with Tom Koenigs, there were talks on the good
flow of the work of the assembly session," said Limaj, whereas he
didn't comment on Thaçi's meeting with Menzies.
Citing an international source, Koha Ditore added that the international
officials in Kosovo have asked Thaçi that his party, the Kosovo
Democratic Party, should respect the procedure and vote for the institution
of the president. "It is not important whether they vote for or against,
it is important that they vote," the source told the paper. The same
request will most probably be also sent to the Haradinaj-led Alliance
for the Future of Kosovo.
"We were of course asked to vote, but we insisted that this be done
in accordance with the agreement reached before," Limaj added. Whereas,
the paper wrote that both the PDK and the Alliance have the same stance
that the request is a violation of democracy because they claim that they
cannot vote for someone whose visions for governing Kosovo and its future
are not known to them. The two parties indicated that they would not vote
for a candidate if there would be no preliminary agreement for co-governance
between the three main political groups in Kosovo.
The abovementioned source furthermore told the paper that the international
officials in Kosovo want LDK's candidate to win the votes for president.
"A government and a president elected with the votes of the deputies
of the Serb coalition Povratak wouldn't be favoured by the Albanian population
in the country," the paper added.
2. SHALA: KOSOVO IS FORTUNATE THAT HAS TWO CANDIDATES FOR THE POST OF UNMIK CHIEF
Zëri carried on page one a column by its editor-in-chief Blerim Shala, who wrote:
If a great surprise does not happen the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will very soon appoint the Special Representative for Kosovo, having two very serious candidates to chose from: Michael Steiner the distinguished German diplomat who has exceptional organizing abilities for a military person, and Carlo Cabigiosu a renowned military officer who here showed his political abilities more than many western diplomats stationed with UNMIK or OSCE.
The quick arrival to Kosovo by Steiner or Cabigiosu would bring a connotation that changes will happen within UNMIK. Someone might think that conclusion as premature, however everyone knows that Steiner and Cabigiosu have a long working experience in this region and have proven since long what they can offer. Steiner is a veteran of a struggle to prevent the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and two years was a successful deputy SRSG in Bosnia. Cabigiosu served in Bosnia and Kosovo. He is remembered here for a successful running of the KFOR and also for his role in ending the conflict in Preshevo valley. After a year of stagnation with Hans Haekkerup whose smartest move in Kosovo was when he resigned, UNMIK and Kosovo with Steiner or Cabigiosu will gain a great deal. UNMIK will weak up from the sleep and Kosovo's structures that hope to be formed one day will gain a very serious partner as UNMIK Chief Administrator. At least in this aspect Kosovo has started 2002 favorably.
3. FORMER COMKFOR CABIGIOSU CANDIDATE FOR UNMIK CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR
Carlo Cabigiosu, former commander of KFOR peacekeeping troops has been
proposed by Italy for the leading post of chief administrator in Kosovo,
and he is considered by United Nations Headquarters in New York as a very
serious candidate for the post, Zëri reports.
On one hand, the paper said that the people of Kosovo don't have much
information about Michael Steiner, whereas they are very well informed
on his counter candidate Cabigiosu, who served as COMKFOR in a very delicate
period during the crisis in Preshevo Valley and Macedonia. Cabigiosu's
statements toward often accusations from Skopje regarding Kosovo's alleged
implication in the turmoil in Macedonia gave him the epithet of a courageous
man willing to face the most difficult tasks.
4. ALIU: WHY IS THE LDK SILENT?
Koha Ditore carried a commentary by Lundrim Aliu on the answers that Kosovars are waiting for.
With how many and whose votes are they planning to elect Kosovo's president? What will happen in the parliament, and what will happen in Kosovo if the president and the government are elected thanks to votes of the Serb coalition Povratak? Who will be nominated for Prime Minister? Who will be Kosovo's Ministers? What are the first proposals that the parliament will make? What is the opposition waiting for?
These and many other questions important for Kosovo's future lay before the LDK, while LDK is quiet, or more precisely refuses to answer.
The reasons that LDK highest officials are using to refuse to answer journalists' questions are various. "I do not know", "I am not in the process", "Ask the chairmanship", "Talk to someone with the chairman", "I have nothing new to say", "You know our viewpoints", "Do not ask every day" are some of the arguments used by LDK officials that continue to shift the ball to each other.
LDK Chairman Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, the person that would have to give the most precise answers continues to refuse to give interviews and thus explain to the Kosovar opinion what is happening and what will happen in Kosovo. A councilor to the LDK chairman who does not want his name to be mentioned in the papers tells the journalists to address their questions to the party chairmanship. Chairmanship members on the other hand say that the hierarchy has to be respected and that the journalists should addresses their questions to the chairman. Same answers we received from the deputy chairmen, because they want to leave the impression that they are not competent to make decisions.
Nexhat Daci who is not very high in the LDK hierarchy, as Assembly President appointed by the LDK and surely knows the plans of his party refuses to give interviews with a simple reason that he will answer the questions when he has new information.
LDK, unlike other political parties or modern institutions does not have a spokesperson, nor did they have one in recent history, (it has to be added that neither of the two other parties have a spokesperson).
The question arises why the LDK, the biggest political party in Kosovo, the party that received the trust of the majority of Kosovo Albanians is keeping quiet? Why the LDK is not divulging its strategy for the 10 January parliamentary session, for future decisions, for forming of the government and the people that will be appointed there?
If it is counting on certain votes, why it is not making this public and why is it not defending its viewpoints with determination? If it does not know what will happen why the LDK is not sharing its worries with the citizens at least with those that voted for them?
This deliberate silence by the LDK is on the eve of the 10 January parliamentary session. A logical conclusion would be that the LDK prefers to keep quiet because it does not want to raise suspicions for what is going to happen in Kosovo's Parliament or what is going to happen to Kosovo's institutions. However, lack of answers leaves room for speculations, worries, and pessimism. What Kosovo's citizens are going to see on TV during the live transmission of the parliament session will have no need for comments by the Assembly President or the political parties. Everyone will be able to draw its own conclusion for what happened, for what could have happened differently and for what will happen in the future. The current fog does not change the political situation, it does not make Kosovo more stable, more democratic, nor does Kosovo become economically more developed, it only makes the citizens more disappointed with politicians and the Parliament.
5. THIS IS THE PRICE OF POVRATAK VOTES
Representatives of the Serb coalition Povratak said on Tuesday that there is a possibility they will achieve an agreement with LDK to vote for the LDK representative for Kosovo's president, however they have their own conditions, reports Epoka e Re.
Oliver Ivanovic, member of the Kosovo's Parliament Presidency told Epoka e Re that there is no chance that members of the Serb coalition Povratak will vote for Kosovo's president. However he left an open possibility that the Serbs would participate in the voting which could be decided at the last moment. Meanwhile Serb coalition Povratak deputy Gojko Savic told Epoka e Re on Tuesday that there is a possibility for a coalition between Serb coalition Povratak and LDK, however we have our conditions that we have already submitted.
Until now one of the main condition that was made public by this coalition is that the LDK withdraws from their option for an independent Kosovo. It is still unclear what are the other conditions.
Head of the Serb parliamentary group Povratak Rada Trajkovic has refuted the speculations that Serbs deputies will not participate on the 10 January session where is expected that Kosovo's president will be elected. I will participate in this session and I believe all other deputies of the Serb coalition Povratak will also come told Rada Trajkovic to Kosova Live. Trajkovic said several days ago that she personally would vote for Kosovo's president while other members of the Serb coalition Povratak will decide before the actual voting.
6. TWO VERSIONS OF THE DEATH OF A BEAUTIFUL GIRL
With all of the fog that has been cowering these days one thing is becoming clear regarding the killing of one of the most beautiful girls in Pejë Vlora Bërbati on Saturday, reports Koha Ditore.
The first thing that became known about the killing of the Albanian interpreter killed in the apartment of an Egyptian police officer is the fact that there was no third party involved as it was speculated in the beginning giving the fact that both of the persons involved in the incident had gun shot wounds.
Koha Ditore sources inform that the investigators questioned the 32-year-old Egyptian police officer. His side of the story is hardly believable. According to him the girl committed suicide. He said that on Saturday afternoon he and Vlora went to his apartment with the UNMIK official vehicle. He said this was usual because they had a love affair. As they entered the apartment she started to demand that he divorce his wife and marry her. He refused this and in despair she took the gun from him and shot herself. When he saw what she did he tried to get the gun from her hand and then she wounded him. Afterward Vlora shot herself four more times killing herself.
However, Vlora's former colleagues and her neighbors considered this version of the event as untrue. Her friends said that here the case is of a blackmail and later a murder. They said that Sherif was madly in love with the 23 year old beauty and did everything to get her. He took her to his apartment to finally convince her to submit to him. According to them Vlora did not want this and in a moment of rage the police officer shot her five times leaving her dead. Seeing what he had done he shot himself and tried to fake the events that really happened there.
The neighbor said that they saw the vehicle pass by three times with the two until they stopped and entered the apartment. According to the eyewitnesses this happened because the police officer needed time to convince her to enter his apartment. Be that as it may no one can be accused as guilty until the judge says the final word.
The police in Pejë questioned more than 30 eyewitnesses. The date of the trail has not been set while citizens of Pejë are incensed by this event. It has been learned that the case will be handed to the local prosecutor and that the police is handling very carefully this case. In the next few days we will be eyewitnesses of how the Kosovo judicial system going to handle this case.
During the burial the father of the deceased told Koha Ditore: I do not know anything. I only know that today I am burying my daughter.
7. DEATH OF THE SERB IN DARDANA WAS AN ACCIDENT
UNMIK police explained on Tuesday that the case in which a Serb died two days ago in Dardanë (former Kamenicë) from a grenade was not a premeditated killing, reports Zëri.
UNMIK police investigated the killing that occurred on 6 January of a 26 year-old Serb in Dardanë and confirmed that the death was accidental. The incident was not a murder as first suspected said UNMIK police spokesperson Derek Chappell. The police uncovered that the victim was inside a bakery and was holding the hand grenade when the safety was removed and later exploded. The events until the removal of the safety remain still unknown. The victim at the moment of the accident was alone and died of the wounds before help arrived said UNMIK police spokesperson Derek Chappell. In the town of Dardanë, which is populated by Serbs, tensions have risen especially after this case, which was evaluated y the Serb political representatives in Kosovo as ethnically related. KFOR troops have raised the number of their patrols in and around Dardanë and also are applying a curfew.
Covic: The killing of Markovic - pressure to empty Kosovo of Serbs
The head of the so-called Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Serbian
Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic told B-92 that he and his associates
have warned the international community that incidents such as this one
were expected in Kosovo. The reason are the holidays said Covic, this
is a classic way of frightening. The attack and the killing of Markovic
is an old scenario, the oldest family in the town is attacked to cause
fear and reason to leave their homes, and slowly to ethnically cleanse
every town and village. The other reason is the 10 January. It is clear
that the three political parties cannot reach an agreement for Kosovo's
president and they think with the Serbs and eventually some other votes
this could be compensated. This is a new wave of fear and if Serbs yield
to this fear then ethnic cleansing will continue said Serbian Deputy Prime
Minister Nebojsa Covic.