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Albanian Times, 96-06-15
Albanian Times
June 15, 1996
CONTENTS
[01] Bush Meets Berisha, Praises Democratic Achievements
[02] Nebex Confirms Economic Grades In Albania Drilling
[03] Albanian May CPI Up 1 Percent (8.4 Percent)
[04] U.S. Lawmakers Ask Clinton To Nominate Envoy For Kosova
[05] Albanian Officials Attacks ODIHR Election Report
[06] Greece Spends Big On Albanian Immigrants, Ministry Says
[07] Albanian Elections Irregular, OSCE Says
[01] Bush Meets Berisha, Praises Democratic Achievements
VLORA, June 14 - Former U.S. President George Bush has endorsed Albania's
democratic achivements, in the aftermath of the general elections which many
observers say were rigged and ahead of a partial re-run in 17 out of 140
constituencies. Mr. Bush and the former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
General Colin Powell were received Friday by President Sali Berisha in his
summer residence of Vlora. Mr. Bush has praised the "impressing achievemnts
in the successful development of democracy in Albania." He also praised
President Berisha "on what he has done for the privatisation in Albania." Mr.
Bush said he sees "tremendous progress" since his first visit in the balkan
country. President Berisha told his guests that the authorities are making
every effort "to repair the regularities noticed during the May 26 elections,
after the boycott of the vote by the leftist forces," according to the
President's spokeswoman. Mr. Berisha and Mr. Bush also held private
discussions. President Bush and General Powel ar
rived in Albania on a yacht cruise in the Mediterranean. (Albanian
Times)
[02] Nebex Confirms Economic Grades In Albania Drilling
CALGARY, June 14 - NEBEX Resources Ltd. reports that results of four recently-
completed drill holes on the Mirdita concession in northern Albania confirmed
the presence of massive sulphides of economic grade. This drilling also
indicates that the mineralized zone is trending towards an area of previously
known mineralization located 400 metres to the north where drilling is
underway. With weather now permitting, activity is increasing in Albania. The
Company's exploration team has grown to include eight Canadian geologists and
25 Albanian technicians. Reconnaissance scale prospecting and mapping for
gold targets is underway on all four concessions. At the Kacinari concession
where a potential open-pit gold target was identified earlier, detailed
exploration is underway to define drill targets. Consultants have started the
audit of 11 copper-zinc-gold ore deposits as provided for under the letter of
intent with the Albanian government. (Albanian Times/Reuters)
[03] Albanian May CPI Up 1 Percent (8.4 Percent)
TIRANA, June 10 - Albania's Institute of Statistics has reported the following
economic indicators:
Inflation____________May 96____April 96____May 95
Monthly CPI change___+1.0______+1.5________-0.5
Yearly change________+8.42_____+6.8________+5.72
Index (1993=100)_____132.68____131.32______122.38
[04] U.S. Lawmakers Ask Clinton To Nominate Envoy For Kosova
WASHINGTON, June 14 - Twenty U.S. lawmakers have signed a letter to President
Clinton, asking him to nominate a special envoy for Kosova, to solve the
crisis there. Congressman Elliot Engel, who led the effort, said the envoy
would help focus the attention on the issue and could be similar to the envoy
nominated by the administration for Northern Ireland. The Republican lawmaker
praised as positive the statment made by the head of Serbia's Science Academy,
Aleksandar Despic, who has suggested that Albanians and Serbs part in peace
rather than engage in a bloody conflict. The statement has produced shock
waves in Serb circles and is raising high hopes among the Albanians in Kosova.
(Albanian Times)
[05] Albanian Officials Attacks ODIHR Election Report
TIRANA, June 14 - Albanian officials have sharply criticised a report by the
Warsaw based Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
detailing severe violations of the election law during the May 26 voting.
Albanian vice minister of justice, Vladimir Kristo, also a member of the
Central Election Commission, said the report lacked argumentation and was a
product of monitoring in only 7 per cent of all polling centers. The report
was received with consternation by the Commission members, Kristo said.
"Moreover, the report says nothing about the withdrawal of the opposition
parties from local election commissions, which could not fail to affect the
final voting results," he added. Kristo also insisted that the President's
decree announcing the constituencies and the election date was timely and did
not represent a violation of the Albanian law. However, the Albanian offical
admitted that irregularities occurred during the vote. Kristo also said the
coverage of the elections by the media co
mplied with all the recommendations and described as "good" the policing
effort during the poll. Various observers have criticized the state media as
being biased and have accused the police of intimidating voters both prior and
during the elections. The Central Election Commission admitted that police
"went beyond their competencies" when they crushed a protest rally of the
opposition in capital Tirana, days after the controversial vote. (Albanian
Times)
[06] Greece Spends Big On Albanian Immigrants, Ministry Says
ATHENS, June 13 - Greece spent over 3.5 billion Drachmas in 1995 to repatriate
239,908 Albanian Illegal immigrants, according to Public Order Ministry quoted
by Athens News Agency. As many as 1,147,048 Albanian illegal immigrants have
been arrested since 1991, the ministry said. (Albanian Times/A.N.A>)
[07] Albanian Elections Irregular, OSCE Says
Vienna, June 12 - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OCSE) said that the recent Albanian elections had been irregular, breaching
both national laws and international standards. ''So many episodes registered
by the observers cannot be considered in line either with the Albanian
electoral law or OCSE commitments concerning elections,'' OSCE said in its
final report on the May 26 elections. ''Those responsible for the elections
widely disregarded the contents of the electoral law,'' and ''five out of nine
articles concerning OCSE commitments on elections were
violated,'' the report added. ''The impression gained by the majority of
observers is that the scrutiny of the votes took place in an irregular manner
and not in accordance with electoral law. In several cases there
was rigging of the results,'' the report said. The 14 page long report
detailed specific instances of irregularities, including discrepancies in some
constituencies between the numbers of votes and electors registered, and in
others between the numbers of people recorded as voting, and official
results. The OCSE report did not give an opinion on what should be
done about the elections, but it made several recommendations. These included
improvements to the electoral law, the establishment of a permanent
independent central electoral commission, training courses for those
responsible for running polling stations and scrutinising the vote, and
definition of the powers and responsibilities of the police on electoral
matters. (Albanian Times)
This material was reprinted with permission of AlbAmerica Trade & Consulting
International. For more information on ATCI and the Albanian Times, please
write to AlbaTimes@aol.com
Copyright © ATCI, 1996
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