Picture From Albania

We put forward a good proposal at the last round of six-party talks. We still believe that's a proposal to work from. We'd certainly like to hear back from the North Koreans about that and, I think, another round of six-party talks will be the way to do that. ...

QUESTION: Still the Middle East and talking about democracy, another subject to do with reports from the Israeli Government that they might link the possible win of Hamas election into postponing or canceling the withdrawal from Gaza. How does this -- if you have any reaction, if we can be informed about that and if there's any -- ... [Read More]

USIS Washington File: TRANSCRIPT: NATO BRIEFING ON "OPERATION ALLIED FORCE" APRIL 15

As you know, even before the Activation Order for Allied Harbour, a number of countries had already pre-deployed forces, for example 450 from France, 200 from Germany, 230 from Greece, 830 from the United States, 1,100 from Italy and Belgium, Canadian and Dutch contingents are currently en route. Yesterday, during his meeting with Madam Ogata of the UNHCR, the Secretary General assured her that we will not impede in any way the humanitarian flights into Tirana due to the momentum of the arrival of NATO forces on military flights. ... [Read More]

USIS Washington File: FACT SHEET: KOSOVO ATROCITIES REPORT JUNE 4, 1999

Serb forces reportedly burned all houses previously rented by the OSCE and looted Kosovar Albanian homes. Refugees from the town also claim that men were being separated from their families. On 27 March, Serb forces reportedly killed four young Kosovar Albanians, including a 14-year-old girl. By 29 March, Serb forces had reportedly herded Kosovar Albanians into a school in the city, and refugees from the town claim that the men were being separated from their families. Since mid-April, Serb forces have reportedly killed over 100 ethnic Albanians in villages north of Vucitrn. Additional refugees witnessed Serb forces removing young men from convoys and shooting them. According to Albanian press, Serb forces rounded up large numbers of Kosovar Albanian men from Vucitrn on 21 May and sent them to the Smerkovnica prison. In addition, Serb forces killed at least 23 ethnic Albanians in Vucitrn on 26 May, according to Kosovapress. ... [Read More]

USIS Washington File: TRANSCRIPT: TAFT, SCHEFFER, KOH BRIEFING ON ATROCITIES 5/10/99

On summery executions, we point out that at least 70 towns and villages have been subject of summery executions. We believe we have at least 4,000 cases of summary executions. There's obviously discussions of numbers of missing men. We're still trying to document on detentions, the use of human shields and the systematic separation of men from their families. Lootings and burnings, we see over 600 residential areas that have been looted and burned; a number of areas in which systematic and organized rape are being chronicled, particularly in Djakovica and Pec. Violations of medical neutrality -- we have chronicled the destruction of hospitals, the murdering of doctors, the expulsions of patients and the use of medical facilities as military cover. And on identity cleansing, which may be the reversible future of this, we hope -- the destruction of passports, identity papers, voter registrations and license plates -- what we're trying to do is to give a full picture of what's going on. ... [Read More]

USIS Washington File: TRANSCRIPT: NATO BRIEFING ON "OPERATION ALLIED FORCE," APRIL 14

On other issues, this picture, taken yesterday, shows burning houses in the village of Randubrava. The nearest NATO strike was over 30 km from the area which suggests that ethnic cleansing action continues. This area has been noted for the activities of the 549th Mechanised Brigade. ...

Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to stress that all NATO Allies believe strongly that if there is to be a stable future for Kosovo, for Yugoslavia, for the region as a whole, justice has to be done and must be seen to be done. We have reported from this rostrum in recent days about atrocities based on what refugees have been telling not just our diplomats but also human rights organisations and international relief organisations. As you know, some of the reports over the last few days have added to the distress, the rape of women in Djukavicka, the fact that Serb forces are reported to have shelled pockets of refugees in Maleveso, Shala and the Kanackik areas, the fact that we've had reports of people being killed returning from the border with the former Republic of Macedonia at a village called Dogavanic, we have heard of 15 villages having been burned since 10 April, looting in Maleveso on 10 April exactly and reports of mass graves at Gladnic -- 24 bodies Lapastica -- 30 - ... [Read More]

USIS Washington File: TRANSCRIPT: NATO BRIEFING ON "OPERATION ALLIED FORCE" MAY 14

Certain reinforcements from the UK, from Germany, are arriving and NATO at the same time is reassessing its Op Plan for this mission called Joint Guardian in the NATO jargon, to see to what degree they may need reinforcement beyond the level that was originally foreseen for the so-called KFOR force -- the Kosovo force -- and to what degree we should take on tasks in the initial stage that go beyond the basic military task of providing an environment of security and free from intimidation and violence for the return of the refugees so we are looking at that very intensively. ... [Read More]

USIS Washington File: TRANSCRIPT: STATE DEPT. BRIEFING ON KOSOVO LANDMINE PROBLEM

For this reason, a leading British demining group, called Halo Trust, entered Kosovo literally when the NATO forces first entered, on June 13, and they are completing a comprehensive study to help us define our demining priorities. There should be some preliminary results from their work within a week. Fortunately, we received earlier this week, from the Serb forces, a number of maps to describe where their minefields are. NATO is now studying these. ...

I also wanted to highlight just in a little bit of detail the assistance that we're providing worldwide to humanitarian demining. Under the State Department budget that you have in front of you, we are providing about $35 million to demining activities and mine awareness programs. In addition, the Pentagon provides about $20 million to $25 million to help train foreign deminers in the humanitarian area, as well as to conduct mine awareness programs. We have another $14 million specifically for the Slovenia trust fund to help demine in the Balkans. We have about $25 million that we're devoting to research and development in new technologies for demining, and an additional $10 million to $12 million under the Leahy War Victims Fund, which assists the victims of land mine accidents. There are about 300,000 of those around the world. In Angola alone, every day you were faced with the specter of 80,000 amputees from land mine accidents; literally hundreds of thousands of people driven ... [Read More]

Vol 34 No 3, July - September 1996 Page 55

This was a flop. The answers we received were uninformative, suggesting that the lessons observed had all been successful, and indicating that there was little need for assistance from an advisor. With hindsight, the failure of this activity was not surprising. One of the vestiges of the past in Albania is over-emphasis of the positive to the exclusion of open recognition of problems which need to be solved. Another problem from the past-a reluctance to commit oneself in writing-posed a serious problem to reporting on actual consultation. ... [Read More]

Albania

The majority of citizens are secular in orientation after decades of rigidly enforced atheism under the Communist regime, which ended in 1990. Despite such secularism, most citizens traditionally associate themselves with a religious group. Citizens of Muslim background make up the largest traditional religious group (estimated at 65 to 70 percent of the population) and are divided into two communities: those associated with a moderate form of Sunni Islam and those associated with the Bektashi school (a particularly liberal form of Shi'a Sufism). In 1925 after the revolution of Ataturk, the country became the world center of Bektashism, although it has not been recognized as such by the Government. Bektashis are concentrated mainly in the central and southern regions and are estimated to represent approximately one quarter of the country's Muslim population. The Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania (referred to as Orthodox) and the R ... [Read More]

Albania

Police separated men from women in pretrial detention centers and prisons which, as of July, were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. Pretrial detainees were not separated from convicted prisoners due to overcrowding.The country has no juvenile justice system, and children's cases frequently were presented to judges who had not received any education in juvenile justice. In cooperation with international donors, Albania's Magistrate's School attempted to address this problem by offering continuing legal education courses in the area of juvenile justice for judges. The Ministry of Justice reported that a total of 17 minors were serving prison sentences: 6 in pretrial detention centers and 11 in Vaqarr--the only prison in the country that has a special wing for juveniles. The Children's Human Rights Center (CRCA) noted that, while juveniles at Vaqarr were held in a separate wing of the prison, they mixed with adult prisoners ... [Read More]