http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2002/September_16/5.html
Explosion Wounds Five in Kosovo Capital, Reuters, September 16th 2002 PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - A small explosion injured five people on a busy street in the center of Kosovo's provincial capital Pristina early on Friday afternoon, United Nations police said. Police Spokesman Derek Chappell told Reuters a hand grenade appeared to have caused the blast at about 1:20 p.m. One of the casualties was seriously injured and several women were also among those rushed to hospital for treatment, he added. Chappell declined to speculate on who might be responsible. Violence has plagued the volatile U.N.-administered Yugoslav province in recent years, due both to organized crime and to tension between ethnic Albanians and Serbs. Police and peacekeeping troops cordoned off a section of the street in central Pristina. A Reuters reporter at the scene saw pools of blood and a woman's shoe lying in the street. Buildings nearby showed no signs of damage. "There was not a car bomb or any kind of booby trap. It looks like a small explosive device, like a hand grenade," Chappell said. "It looks like people were targeted. We don't know who was the intended target." Law enforcement remains a struggle for international authorities in Kosovo more than three years after a NATO air war halted Serb repression of the ethnic Albanian majority and ejected the forces of autocrat Slobodan Milosevic. The province is rife with arms from the conflict, and a popular base for smugglers and other criminal gangs. Kosovo remains legally part of Yugoslavia, but has been run as an international protectorate since 1999. Most of its Serbs live in heavily guarded enclaves in fear of attacks by Albanians. ------------------------------------------------------- 2)http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2002/September_18/9.html Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano accuses leading Kosovo political leader for human trafficking, EER, September 18th 2002 Spectacular: Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano Accuses the former KLA leader, now a leading Kosovo political leader, Ramush Haradinaj for human trafficking, ethnic violence and other crimes. Nano openly rejects creation of Greater Albania, indirectly confessing that such idea is current among some Kosovo Albanians. EPOKA E RE (Kosovo Albanian Daily, Pristina) Nano Against Haradinaj Berlin -- Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano condemned the Albanian extremism in the Balkans on Wednesday, and refuted the idea for creating 'Greater Albania.' In an interview for the German newspaper 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung', Nano told reporters that his country wants to cooperate with Albanian political parties in Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro, but the purpose of this cooperation is not the creation of Greater Albania, but that they should all contribute to fulfill the needed reform in the road towards European integration. Regarding the political situation in Kosovo, Nano said, "When persons that possessed political protection or alibi for their involvement into human trafficking, ethnic violence, or other crimes, would be arrested, then it is a duty of all everyone in the region to oppose the efforts of these problematic persons to utilize the arrest in a political way and to 'drop' the people in protests." In this context, Nano specifically mentioned AAK President, Ramush Haradinaj. ------------------------------------------------------- 3) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=22486108 The Times of India September 18, 2002 Nato frees 2 Algerians suspected of terrorism in Kosovo PRISTINA (AFP): The Nato-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo has released two of five Algerians it arrested last month on suspicion of terrorist activities, an official said on Tuesday. An investigation into the alleged activities has shown no reason for these two individuals to be detained any longer, Tony Adams, spokesman for the peacekeepers (KFOR), said. "These two are no longer a risk to the safe and secure environment in Kosovo," Adams said. Five Algerians were arrested last month in two separate intelligence-led operations on suspicion of threatening security in the Serbian province. The two were released earlier this month. The group of five, workers of a humanitarian organisation, were sent to KFOR's detention facility in Camp Bondsteel, some 50 km west of Kosovo's main city Pristina, which is home to over 4,000 US troops serving with the peacekeepers. Under an agreement that ended the 1998-99 war in Kosovo and governs all UN and KFOR actions, the peacekeepers have the authority to detain persons believed to threaten security in the predominantly ethnic Albanian province. Last year KFOR detained three people of Middle East origin believed to be linked to an Islamic charity on suspicion of supporting worldwide terrorist activities. They were released a month later. The southern Serbian province has been under UN and Nato control since the end of the war in June 1999. ------------------------------------------------------- 4) http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2002/09/4-SEE/see-170902.asp Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 18, 2002 KOSOVARS SEEK INTERNATIONAL ROLE Kosova President Ibrahim Rugova said in Prishtina on 16 September that he hopes that Kosova [official US government spelling] can become a member of the International Monetary Fund at the earliest possible opportunity, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. Elsewhere, speaker of the parliament Nexhat Daci said that he wants Kosova to be directly represented in international organizations by its own officials. Its international representation is currently the prerogative of the UN civilian administration (UNMIK). PM Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
