Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), 98-07-23

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From: The Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) Home Page at <http://www.telpress.it/ata>

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

CONTENTS

[01] Democratic party towards boycotting local government

[02] Council of Ministers adopts draftlaw, draftdecision packages

[03] Patrol forces blocked 3 tons smuggled cigarettes, gasolene

[04] Project to rehabilitate obstetric hospital in capital

[05] Albanians killed in Rahovec burried in massive graves

[06] Teenager soccer team participates in international activities

[07] Klosi appointed director general of Albanian radio television

[08] Measures to be taken to cope with any dictated event

[09] U.S. and NATO working in diplomatic and military lines to resolve Kosova issue

[10] Artists say "No" to decision to leave national theatre's building

[11] Nano says cooperation with U.S. of vital importance for Albania

[12] Continuous fighting and displacement of population in Kosova

[01] Democratic party towards boycotting local government

"The DP officials will not take part in meetings of the administrative councils in the prefecture, will not accept any task envisaged by the law and imposed by the government as well as refuse to take part in any protocol meeting with central government official," the DP third conference of the local elected officials said on Wednesday.

Bashkim Fino, vice prime minister and minister of Local government, considered on Tuesday groundless and non argued the charges of the association of head of town halls in Albania for alleged "avoidance of the local elected officials from the government bodies."

The DP leader Sali Berisha told the conference on Wednesday that "the present government ran by Socialists is a hostile one and it should be fought by all means."

"We will destroy the block where the present government officials live and every lodging," Berisha said.

The latest statements of the Democrat leader regarding the toppling of the present government came immediately after the DP decision for a final parting with the Albanian parliament, a decision which was considered wrong by the Council of Europe, European parliament, Organisations for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), U.S. State Department, and others.

The Socialist party of Albania considered Berisha's statements "warmongering, splitting, anti-democratic and anti-national." s.s/mima/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[02] Council of Ministers adopts draftlaw, draftdecision packages

"Law on fundamental changes in SHIK as well as the attached one on classified information considerably realises the needed transparency of the intelligence bodies, clarifies the equivocal on their dependence on other institutions as well as guarantees its departure from the past," Fatos Nano, the prime minister said on Wednesday.

He praised the draft on weapons collection, which, according to him, should be followed by a strategy of disarmament.

The draftdecisions presented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs include an increase of unemployment assistance, regulation, maintenance and use of documentation of workers of former agricultural cooperatives, enterprises and institutions which have interrupted their activity or are in the process of closing, approval in principle of the reviewed European Social Charter, status on state inspectorate of labour, as well as accident in work.

It also approved the decision on rewarding the members of the Leading Council of the Albanian Radio Television. dori/eva/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[03] Patrol forces blocked 3 tons smuggled cigarettes, gasolene

A spokesman of the Guardia di Finanza said to ATA that the Italian warship G-92 "Alberti" of the CAM-SEA mission spotted a fishing boat south of Kep i Gjuhezes, whose crew was unloading a quantity of illegal goods at 04.30.a.m.

He said that when they dictated the warship started shooting with automatic rifles from the shore while two dinghies and a motorboat involved in contraband tried to prevent the warship from approaching.

The Italian-Albanian crew shooting in the air managed to normalise the situation and another CAM-SEA G-102 "Micoli" ship and two motorboats of Guardia di Finanza V 5010 and V5011 left Durres for Vlora to back the forces there.

The Albanian rapid intervention forces blocked the uneven mountainous terrain of Kep i Gjuhezes and an Albanian police helicopter controlled the area from above.

At 6.00. a.m. the four ships of the Italian-Albanian forces confiscated the goods abandoned in the shore by the fishing ship which managed to leave to an unknown direction.

They found some three tons of cigarettes of different types as well as a considerable quantity of gasolene in barrels, goods to be traded illegally. So far, no one knows where the goods came from.

The spokesman said that the special police backed by the helicopter continued to search the area and managed to arrest two persons at 9.30 a.m. armed with Kalashnikov automatic rifles and some cartridge clips.

The quantity of confiscated goods was loaded to the warship to be transported to Durres port. ake/eva/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[04] Project to rehabilitate obstetric hospital in capital

"The rehabilitation would be carried out by the assistance of non- governmental organisations at the framework of the European Commission Health Office (ECHO) emergency program," a spokesman of the Health Ministry said to ATA on Thursday.

He said that the assistance would consist in rehabilitating birth- rooms, which are in poor state of maintenance, supplying medical apparatus and training of personnel to enable them use correctly new pieces of apparatus.

Some 70 thousands births and 35 thousands abortions are done annually in the Tirana old women hospital, but the conditions there call into question the health of mothers and newborn babies, Fjodor Kallajxhi, the director of the Obstetric hospital said. ake/pas/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[05] Albanians killed in Rahovec burried in massive graves

"Serb forces have dug up graves with excavators and buried the bodies collected in the roads of Rahovec almost an hour before the arrival of foreign journalists and diplomats in the city," the same source said.

The Council for the protection of Human Rights and Liberties in Kosova said that Serb forces have killed over 50 Albanians but scores of killed and massacred people in roads, houses, underground and fields had not been identified yet.

Sources of the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK) in Rahovec believe that there are hundreds of civilians killed, massacred, burnt or injured.

Kosova press and other sources compared Rahovec with Srebrenica. pta/mima/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[06] Teenager soccer team participates in international activities

The Albanian team will face 300 teams from all the world, which will play in groups to define the winner of the world cup for private teams including players born from '83 to '85. /ake/eva/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[07] Klosi appointed director general of Albanian radio television

Klosi graduated the Language and Literature Faculty of the Tirana University.

"I do not know television directly but I have some knowledge," Klosi said to the press.

He mentioned a series of television courses he attended during his five-year stay in Germany where he had worked as a pedagogue of Albanology Institution in the Mynich University.

Klosi, who was married to a German woman and has two daughters, said "I am going to finally settle soon in Albania," whom he left at the beginning of '90 for post-graduate studies in Austria.

He has often visited Albania during the recent years and has taken part in revolts of students aiming at toppling the communist regime and is known as the organiser of many protests of Albanians in Bonn, Germany, when the Democratic party was in power.

Ardian Klosi is the author of a number of works such as "Albanian survival", "What could Albania be", "Reflexions" with Edi Rama, the minister of Culture as co-author.

Klosi has also written a book on the Albanian mythology and a German- Albanian vocabulary. /mima/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[08] Measures to be taken to cope with any dictated event

TIRANA, July 23 (ATA)- By R. Pata, The Parliamentary Defence Commission on Thursday issued a statement which calls on "all, especially the armed forces' structures, all officers and soldiers to cope with any event dictated".

The statement was drafted in the commission's today's meeting, which examined the latest situation in Kosova, mainly the barbarous massacres the Serb occupier is exercising on Albanians.

"The latest massacres in Kosova remind you of Sebrenica and its people burnt by the fire of Milosevic's machine and our entire region risks to be engulfed in the flames of war," says the statement says.

The Albanian parliament has examined the situation in Kosova several times, since the beginning of the Serb massacres. The People's Assembly has approved two resolutions to this end which ask the international community to urgently intervene to avoid a conflict of catastrophic consequences.

The statement concludes with a call addressed to all, especially "officers and soldiers to heighten military readiness to cope with any dictated event." /a.ke/das/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[09] U.S. and NATO working in diplomatic and military lines to resolve Kosova issue

In his regular press conference on Thursday, the spokesman of the White House, Mike McCurry, referring to the developments in Kosova said that "U.S. President Clinton and the NATO Secretary General Solana have had and exchange of information regarding the military plans being prepared by the Alliance for a possible intervention in Kosova".

"We are working in two lines, diplomatic and military, the latter will be used if diplomacy fails to find a solution to the issue".

The U.S. keeps considering Milosevic the main cause for the violence exercised in Kosova, said McCurry.

He regarded Belgrade as the generator of the conflict.

"It is the brutal oppression, expercised by Belgrade for many years, and constant refusal to undertake the necessary steps towards peace that have led to this situation," said McCurry. Now there are many facts to consider Milosevic responsible, he added. /s.s/das/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[10] Artists say "No" to decision to leave national theatre's building

This took place shortly after the number one of the Ministry of Culture, Edi Rama, considering outdated condition of the theatre building, a thing which has also been observed by French specialists sent by him, decided the closure of the building for an unspecified time and the artists's migration to other halls.

After the artists' meeting, which was associated with angry tones against the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, sources from minister Rama's cabinet told ATA that this ministry will take no decision before a technical report is concluded and a way out is found regarding the condition of the theatre's building.

"Along with the people interested we will find the best way to resolve the problem and in the meantime we have issued no order preventing the actors and administration of the theatre from exercising their activity in its spaces, the chief of the minister's Cabinet, Blendi Gonxhe, clarifies. /das/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[11] Nano says cooperation with U.S. of vital importance for Albania

"Cooperation with the U.S. is of vital importance for Albania," Nano told the newly appointed director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Michael Farbman, at a working meeting on Thursday, according to the spokesman of the prime minister.

The aid of the U.S. institutions, especially of USAID, as one of the most powerful donors in restructuring economy and strengthening democratic institutions, will help reactivate Albania's resources, speeding up its recovery, said Nano.

The meeting discussed the steps undertaken by the Albanian government for Albania's membership of the World Trade Organisation as well as the possibility for professional training of the Albanian structures, which will follow the membership process.

The U.S. representatives expressed the support of the U.S. government to integrate Albania into the World Trade Organisation.

The participants in the meeting, also attended by U.S. ambassador to Albania Marisa Lino, discussed other problems of the situation in Albania and concrete projects of the U.S. administration in aid of Albanian government. /s.s/das/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[12] Continuous fighting and displacement of population in Kosova

Fighting in Kosova continued also over the last 24 hours along the border belt with Albania, in Dukagjin, Drenice and Rrafshi i Kosoves.

Displacement of the population in large proportions is taking place not only in many villages attacked and bombarded by the Serb forces but also in the cities.

Besides Decan, Rahovec, too, has been destroyed and emptied, while the population are being largely displaced from Peja, Skenderaj and other cities, also including the Kosova capital, Prishtine.

Today's reports say that Serb forces' attacks continue also in the villages of Pecan, Zllaushan and Reshtan of the Suhareke commune, the village of Gremnik of Kline and several other regions of Drenica, as well as in the village of Nerodime e Eperme of Ferizaj suburb.

In Peja the Serb police are maltreating many Albanian families, thus, because of blockades and raids by the Serbian forces the city of Gjakova is likely to remain without food. /das/lm/

From the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) Home Page at http://www.telpress.it/ata

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