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Albanian Times, April 6, 1996From: Albanian Times <AlbaTimes@aol.com>The Albanian Times (by AlbAmerica TRade & Consulting International) DirectoryCONTENTS[1] Albanian Democrats Elect Party Chairman[2] Berisha Announces Division of Election Zones[3] French CEO-s in Tirana[4] Albania is "Mad Cow" Safe, Officials Say[5] Serreqi, Granic Discuss Kosova, Economic Ties[6] Serb to Serve Jail Term for Murder of Albanian[1] Albanian Democrats Elect Party ChairmanTIRANA, April 5, Albanian Democratic Party has elected its secretary general Tritan Shehu as the Party's new chairman. Shehu, a medical doctor, who has served as health minister in the Meksi government, was elected by a national convention of the Party that opened Thursday in Tirana. The newly elected chairman was competing against another candidate, party's political secretary, Ferdinand Xhaferri. The Democratic Party had remained without a chairman since the ousting of its former head Eduard Selami more than a year ago. The convention ended Friday pledging victory in forthcoming elections. It promised strong economic growth, high speed privatisation and NATO membership by the year 2000. The opposition socialists held their own convention earlier this month calling on the opposition forces to achieve more than 50 percent of the vote in the elections. (Albanian Times)
[2] Berisha Announces Division of Election ZonesTIRANA, April 5 - President Sali Berisha has officially announced the administrative division of electoral zones ahead of the general elections. The country will have 115 constituencies from 100 in the last ballot. Each constituency will be made of about 20,000 voters. In the new division, a series of factors were considered, including the geographic and traditional homogenity of different areas, to guarantee free and fair elections, an official announcement said. President Berisha will open consultations with the political parties to decide on the date of the elections, which are widely expected to be held in early summer. (Albanian Times)
[3] French CEO-s in TiranaTIRANA, April 5 - A high level French delegation has pledged increased economic cooperation with Albania, Radio Tirana said. In a meeting with President Berisha, Pierre Lelouche, special envoy of the French President, said Mr. Jacques Chirac is committed in giving Albania priority support to implement French projects in that country, an announcement of the Presidency in Tirana said. The delegation is made of high powered company executives with main interests in construction and tourist business. The projects dicussed comprised a tourist village in Himara, water supply systems for Tirana and Durres and the construction of an airport in Saranda. (Albanian Times)
[4] Albania is "Mad Cow" Safe, Officials SayTIRANA, April 6 - Albanian specialists have ruled out any possibility for infected beef from Britain and other E-U countries to be imported to Albania. The country has established four major veterinary checks for imported meats before they enter Albania, experts at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Tirana said. They also rule out the possibility that officials accept infected meat imports in exchange for bribes. Last month, Albania moved to ban British beef because of fears about ``mad cow'' disease by closing its borders to beef imports from the entire continent. Ministry officials also said the ban of British beef from other countries may benefit the Albanian meat dealers by increasing their chances to sell abroad. (Albanian Times)
[5] Serreqi, Granic Discuss Kosova, Economic TiesZAGREB, April 3 - In talks with his Croatian counterpart on Wednesday in Zagreb, Albanian foreign minister Alfred Serreqi called for pressuring Serbian President into talks on Kosova. "We think the moment is right for the Serb government and President Sllobodan Milosevic to be pressured into talks to find a solution acceptable to both sides," Serreqi said. He stressed that the issue of Kosovo could not be looked at only as a problem of human rights. "Noone knows what kind of autonomy would be acceptable, but this undefined autonomy is absolutely unacceptable," Serreqi said. The issue of Kosovo's status should be resolved within the framework of respect of territorial integrity of all states in the region and respect of human rights and rights of all minorities," Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic said. Granic also said Croatia does not want to take part in any Balkan associations, nor will it participate in the work of Balkan conferences. It wants exclusively direct relations with the European Union, he stressed. Both ministers described the political relations between the two countries as good. Efforts will be put into promoting economic relations, especially through a joint commission soon to convene. (Albanian Times, Hina, Radio Tirana)
[6] Serb to Serve Jail Term for Murder of AlbanianPRISHTINA, April 3 - A district court in Prishtina, on Wednesday sentenced Serbian policeman Boban Krstic to four years and six months in prison for killing six-year-old Albanian boy Fidan Brestovci and seriously wounding his mother, Makfira, on July 27, 1994. This was the first time that a Serbian police officer had been sentenced to a prison term for crimes over the majority ethnic Albanian population of Kosova. The dead boy's parents and their lawyers anounced they would file a complaint because they thought the sentence too lenient. The Pristina-based "Bujku" said on Wendesday that after the murder, officer Krstic had been promoted to the post of a deputy commander of the police station in Kacanik. (Albanian Times, Hina)
The material was reprinted with permission of AlbAmerica Trade & ConsultingInternational. For more information on ATCI and the Albanian Times, pleasewrite to AlbaTimes@aol.comCopyright (c) ATCI, 1996 |