CONTENTS:

SOMEWHERE WITH AND SOMEWHERE WITHOUT A FLAG
ALBANIANS EVACUATED FROM NIS PRISON
FDH EXCLUDES ETHNIC MOTIVE ON DASHEC KILLINGS
KOSTUNICA WARNS AGAINST KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE

SOMEWHERE WITH AND SOMEWHERE WITHOUT A FLAG

All the daily papers carried extensive coverage of the swearing-in of Municipal Assemblies all over Kosovo, which went smoothly however there were little problems. Koha Ditore carried on pages one, four through eight reports from different municipalities in Kosovo.

"Bring the flags and swear-in" were the words of Bernard Kouchner UN Civil Administrator for Kosovo at the municipal building in Pristina where the inauguration ceremony was taking place and at the most crucial moment the ceremony was blocked and there was a chance of total failure. Today's Pristina ceremony took place in front of Albanian, Turkish and Bosniac flag as well as the UN flag after a request by the elected members that they would swear-in before their national flags. Host of the Pristina ceremony was UN regional administrator Siegfried Brenke who opened the ceremony by asking the present for a minute silence for the victims of the war and a better future for the Balkans.

"I have been waiting for the past 16 months to participate in this humane and political event. It is a privilege for me to address you, the newly elected members of Municipal Councils at this historic moment," said SRSG Bernard Kouchner. His    "most important message" to the new Municipal Council members was that, "Kosovo's future lies in tolerance".

ALBANIANS EVACUATED FROM NIS PRISON

Koha Ditore carried on page three a statement released by the Yugoslav Minister for Minorities Rasim Lajic to the Serb news agency Beta.

"I have been told that a group of 40 inmates is being prepared for evacuation and one group has been already evacuated. I do not know if this information is accurate and do not know where are they being evacuated to," said Yugoslav Minister for Minorities Rasim Lajic on Saturday on the information he received from prisoners at the Nis prison that Albanians held at this prison are being evacuated reported Serb news agency Beta. He added that during his visit to the Nis prison few days earlier, the rebelled prisoners told him, "during the rebellion at this prison there were no incidents". Meanwhile the British news agency Reuters also reported on the evacuation at the Nis prison quoting Darko Pavlovic, a rebelling Serb prisoner acting as a negotiator, who confirmed that Albanian prisoners were evacuated however they do not know their destination.

Natasha Kandic head of the Human Rights Fund said that she too has heard of the transfer of Albanian prisoners from the Nis prison, her sources informed her that a part of these Albanians were sent to Zrenjanin.

FDH EXCLUDES ETHNIC MOTIVE ON THE DACHEC KILLINGS 

Koha Ditore carried a report on the Dachec killing of the four Ashkali and the statement released by Human Rights Fund on this horrible act.

Human Right Fund a Belgrade based non-governmental organization headed by Natasa Kandic harshly condemned the killing of four Ashkali in the Dashec village. The Fund condemns the crime, which damages the stability in Kosovo. FDH conducted interviews with family members of the killed and they have "indications which exclude a ethnic motive for the killings, and these killings could have been for personal gain".

FDH thinks, "the case is of great importance, for them to continue inquires and in some way to disorientate the investigative process".   

KOSTUNICA WARNS AGAINST KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE

Kosova Sot carried an interview by the Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica to the German Spiegel.

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica warned that Kosovo's independence would have a "chain reaction" effect. "Now we have to find a political solution with a fundamental independence for Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo. We also have to look at aspirations of neighboring countries in the region, especially Greece and Albania," said Kostunica.  

He warned that Kosovo's independence "would comprehend the end of Macedonia as a state and create grave new problems within Bosnia". Kostunica added, "there has been no positive answer" from Dr. Ibrahim Rugova the moderate Kosovo leader for a possible meeting. "As it seems it is still to early," said Kostunica and added that "main aim" of his new government is the return of expelled Serbs to Kosovo. When asked what are the possibilities of two states Montenegro and Serbia, Kostunica said, "His mandate depends on the will of the people". "We are ready for a solution with Montenegro. Today Yugoslavia is accepted all over the world and has been admitted to the UN. Tomorrow such a Yugoslavia might not exist," said Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.