The weekly Koha (The Times) was published in Prishtina (Kosovo) between 1994 and 1997. Edited by Veton

Surroi, a young Kosovar journalist and one of the pioneers of democratisation in former Yugoslavia, Koha

soon became a symbol of quality among the region's media. In 1997 it started to be published daily under the

name of Koha Ditorë. With the kind permission of Mr. Surroi, Koha digests were originally posted on

http://koha.estudiosbalcanicos.org.

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KOHA SUMMARY # 121FRONT PAGE: THE COMEBACKDATE: 23 October 1996

EDITORIAL

AN AIRPLANE A DAY

by VETON SURROI

The announcement that asylum-seekers would be returned back from Germany, as of thebeginning of the next year and till the end of 1999, has caused all kinds of comments, but Ididn't have a chance to see arithmetics being used in any of them. Instead, there were politicalcomments, deserved and made by many interested parties, starting from the fact that this isthe beginning of the "filling-up of Kosova" after it was emptied in the past decade, and up tothe comment that the return is nevertheless being done based on an agreement betweenGermans and Serbs, without any Albanian competency.

Since mathematics can often explain more than political comments, take the following ascertain data:

- if German authorities intend to return 130 thousand Kosovan asylum-seekers by1999, then they will need, from January 1997 to December 1999, one airplane a dayholding 120 rejected asylum-seekers that would land in Sllatinë airport (if there is fearfrom flying, if transportation by road is used, then three buses with 40 passengers eachwould be necessary),

- if each one of these asylum seekers has been sending home at least 50 DEM amonth, this will mean that their full return will mean that Kosova will stop receiving6,5 million DEM a month, or the sum necessary to cover the minimal expenses of theAlbanian educational system in Kosova. Serbia should be worried about this too, forthanks to its smuggling-banking channels, this money ended in the National Bank ofYugoslavia (Avramovic's program of economic stabilization started with some 300million DEM in hard-currency reserves, the same amount that the Albanian asylum-seekers could have theoretically sent to Kosova, and which later ended at the NationalBank, in the past four years),

- if the West, where Albanian asylum-seekers reside actually, has thought that byreturning them it will stop the emigration wave, then this is a miscalculation.According to the German calculations, over 2,000 Albanian asylum-seekers go toGermany every month. If the agreement on their repatriation is implemented, thenGermany would return 3,600 asylum-seekers but would be receiving, through illegal

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channels, some 2,000 new ones. This would actually be Germany's attempt to fill up abucket which has 10 holes in it.

The last detail: some 70% of the Kosovan population are under the age of 30. The rhythm ofthe demographic growth, as the secret analyses made by NATO affirm too, will not decreasein the coming decades. In order to absorb this population, Kosova would need an economyequal to that of the EU, a political system of civil rights where this economy could live, andhave all those people employed in that economy.

In the heads of almost 70% of the population of Kosova, Europe is not that of the slogan:"Kosova, member of the EU", but rather as a notion "Kosovans, employed in the EU, as longas the thing don't change".

ASYLUM-SEEKERS

THE COUNTDOWN HAS STARTED

by ANTONI BERISHAJ & BEQË CUFAJ /Stuttgardt

The agreement that was announced during Kinkel's visit to Belgrade sometime ago, got itsformal contours in Bonn. Around the table decorated with flowers and in front of the building"adorned" with a dozen of protesters with some placards and one Albanian flag, met GermanInterior Minister Manfred Kanther and Vukasin Jokanovic, his homolog from the rumpYugoslavia. The colleagues, as the relatively influential dailies "Die Welt" and "Taz" referredto them, signed the agreement, i.e., the willingness to cooperate in the project on the return of135 thousand asylum-seekers with Yugoslav citizenship to their places of origin.

"Pro Asyl", a local NGO, reveals the secret of the national composition of the personsaffected by this decision: 120 thousand are Kosova Albanians and as such shouldn't expectthe automatic juridical protection of their "fatherland".

The concerns expressed by several different humanitarian organizations about the fate of thereturnees is grounded on the dubious credibility of the Yugoslav diplomacy or jurisprudence.

"The Society for the Threatened People", the organizer of the symbolical protest in front ofthe Ministry of Interior, argues its disbelief with the bitter experience with Turkey, in asimilar action to return the Kurdish asylum-seekers back home, Turkey, although politicallyand economically member of the NATO, and quite closely linked to Germany, mistreated onseveral occasions the repatriated Kurds at the Ankara airport, thus ignoring the guarantees onthe safe return of each, regardless of their political convictions.

Because of bureaucratic difficulties to investigate each case individually, the protests ofhumanitarian organizations are condemned to the fate of Don Quixote, in their attempts tosensitivize the German public that sees in asylum-seekers the biggest spenders of publicfunds.

The return of the political asylum-seekers to Belgrade will be ever more difficult, having inmind the previous experience with Belgrade's respect of other international agreements it

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signed, as well as the fact that the Serbian "democracy" makes it very difficult forinternational NGOs to work in the field. After having recognized the FRY, the Germangovernment has no other ace in its hands and has to trust the good will of the Serbian partyand the "only compromise" made by Jokanovic, who obliged himself to the "full respect ofhuman rights and the dignity of the returnees".

Realpolitik analysts will give a simple interpretation to this whole thing: in order to return the120 thousand people that burden their social system, Germans are willing to let Albanians atthe mercy of Serbs, although some of them have to be sacrificed.

The realization of the agreement could start as of 1 December 1996, when it enters in force. Itis planned that the whole process should end by the end of a three-years cycle, in phases inwhich the refugees will be determined in different categories and statuses. In general, theagreement includes all those who are residing illegally in Germany, who were rejectedpolitical asylum and who have had a semi-illegal status, that of the Duldung.

If the experience with the Kurds and Bosnians is repeated, the first ones to leave will be theinfractors and then all the rest, according to their social status, starting from the single andfamilies without children to finally come to the students and the ill.

The noise that is being made in regard to the return of the Bosnians as well as the criticismaddressed to Germany by the EU and a part of the German mass-medias for its indifferenceabout the fate of the returnees, has been partially neutralized with the statement of theAmerican State Department, that gives reason to the German plans. Nicholas Burns, the StateDepartment's spokesman has repeated the key argument saying that there is no country in theworld that has more asylum-seekers from Bosnia than Germany, and that the Germangovernment has always been in contact with the UN about this matter.

This support seems to have made minister Kanther meet Jokanovic so the agreement on thereturn of Albanians would remain without any comments and period. And so it happened.

ASYLUM-SEEKERS

THE BEGINNING OF THE (UN)EXPECTED RETURN

by ANTONI BERISHAJ & BEQË CUFAJ / Sttutgardt

It all started one cold autumn day...

This could be the first sentence of the draft of a (pathetic) story or poetry, which suddenly (ornot that suddenly) is altered by a news on the radio or a non-serious newspaper, but soimportant in the sense of the creating the opinion of masses in a consumers society in which anewspaper like this is sold in thousands of copies, which almost makes it the decision-makingcenter for the steps, stars, ups, downs, etc...

In this case, it is the German society, which according to a survey organized just recently byStern on the period of hatred towards the Jews, has most often repeated : "Jews are ourmisfortune" (a great argument to have "misfortune" destroyed massively in concentration

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camps...) and now, and now, continues one of the interviewed students, "...not a long timeshall pass before our society starts repeating the old saying, but this time, "Jews" will bereplaced by "Aliens"!"

Therefore, "Aliens are our misfortune" is something that Germans are about to start claiming.They are tired of 6 million foreigners they have hosted... In the series of big discussions aboutthe difficult situation the German workers are facing, and who are threatening to go on strike,in the middle of discussions whether German unification was good or bad, almost secretly isthe return of asylum-seekers from Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosova being prepared.

The most interesting thing in this case is the visible division of the German public about thisissue.

This division doesn't concern the issue whether the refugees should be repatriated or not, buthas to do with the fact that the timing is wrong and that spring should be awaited for themassive return of refugees and asylum-seekers.

While Bosnians and Serbs have some kind of attention in the media and the different Germanhumanitarian organizations, Albanians remain almost as if they were orphans not knowingwhere to go and ask for some help. Probably the culmination of the irony will come after acouple of weeks when Kinkel will invite Rugova to communicate him the news, so the latterwill, in a usual press conference (which according to Zëri's correspondent the last conferencewas attended by 4-5 journalists, but according to Rilindja's correspondent, the room was full,and the conference was even attended by the chairman of the journalists of Germany. Whomshould one believe? Probably, Kanther, Jokanovic and Kinkel!) he will declare how theAlbanian-German relations are good and that the German side is full of understanding for theAlbanian requests. Afterwards, he will have dinner in some pizzeria, not with Kinkel, butLDK's chairman for the diaspora. And the next day, on his way back to Tirana or Prishtinë hewill pass by premier Bukoshi at the airport and will not exchange one word with him.

(How much have Gagica and Bukoshi done for the Albanian question? The following issufficient proof. Last year, tens of thousands of Albanians were gathered in a protest, thecentral German TV's information about this event lasted several seconds, however, thegathering of 60-70 Kurds was covered for 5-6 minutes. What a result! 70 thousand Albaniansremain in the shadow of 70 Kurds).

"It is no one else's fault", is the most often heard exclamation by any Albanian on any street inGermany. This type of Albanian can be found anywhere: on the "baustels", in factories,streets, asylum centers, prisons, subways in which they either deal drugs or are junkies thatdie for a couple of grams of drugs, and finally the old parts of the towns in which they sell orbuy prostitutes from Poland, the Czech Republic, Albania or Turkey! All of these shouldagree upon one: "No one is to blame but us"!

This is true. It is true because all are trying to do their job, but give no accounts to anyone. Allare trying to get a portion of the cake called party, association or government. All would liketo dress up well, not to speak a normal Albanian, not to say German, never read Albanian andeven less German newspapers (which doesn't mean that they shouldn't carry one around as asymbol of intellectualism!). What will happen with these Albanians wearing ties and white-socks, once repatriation starts? Nobody knows. As soon as people will be taken back home,they will not be able to organize more concerts that bring millions of DEM of profit. They

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will have to think of new ways to peel the skin of the poor Albanians wandering around thestreets in Europe. In the meantime, Gagica will send Kanther a thank-you letter (he sent arequest-letter for the repatriation of Albanians long time ago). Why will he do this, and whowill order him to do so? Who knows. Bukoshi, on the other hand, is expected to buy a minuteon a private German TV, and give or invent some new variants of his politics! WhileAlbanians living in "baustels", factories, asylum-centers, streets, prisons, brothels or subways,have their fate signed again by Jokanovic. The proper Jokanovic, one of those that caused thepain and suffering of the desolate asylum-seekers (the first time he signed something, theyhad to flee Kosova, now he signed, and they have to go back). The next step is to await forthe Friday political prayer and hear when will the next Italian pizza be eaten in Sttutgardt,while the government will just call back and tell people it is still alive. While Jokanovic willprobably tell us: "There is no one you can blame". And really, who can we blame?

ASYLUM-SEEKERS

EMPTY POCKETS

by IBRAHIM REXHEPI / Prishtinë

The situation in Kosova continues to be difficult and unbearable in many of its aspects. It iseven more difficult to know that there are no signs that give hope that things will changesoon. Starting from previous ascertainments of certain politicians and leaders of politicalparties who used to link the comeback of asylum-seekers with the elimination of theconditions that forced them out from Kosova, the return of 120 thousand Albanians fromGermany could be a sign of some eventual changes. But, it seems that we are wrong again.There is a change only in the relations between Germany and self-proclaimed Yugoslavia thathave reached an agreement mainly about Albanians in these conditions. Meanwhile, theAlbanian political and party leadership is nowhere in this whole matter. The Government ofKosova proves this in its communique: "The Albanian side ascertains with grief that it wasnot present in the conversations about the fate of its own citizens". To have the irony bigger,the decision is again made by Vukasin Jokanovic, known as a faithful implementer of allmodalities for the ruin of the autonomy of Kosova. Thus, Bukoshi's government is right todraw the attention that "...the fact that Belgrade is signing on our behalf should mobilize allpolitical forces and all citizens of Kosova to think about the future of Kosova". The creationof new relations proves that times are changing, hence the convictions are different. However,Albanians continue thinking the same thing, they continue having the hope that theinternational community will maybe find an acceptable solution for them.

It has become clear that the first contingent of Albanian asylum-seekers will celebrate theNew Year 1997 at home. The dilemma is what will they bring with them: their dirtyunderwear or maybe a pffening or two which they would use to restart their life in Kosova.Will there be 10 thousand DEM per each returnee or will one third of the money thatGermany paid for hosting asylum-seekers come to Kosova are only some of the comments. Inessence nothing is known, apart from the fact that this agreement has its economic segment.

Some time ago, it was published that the Government of B&H asked from the Germangovernment an assistance of 10 thousand per each returnee. But, at the same time, theGerman government published that it would be willing to assist the new country with loans

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that will help to open 45 thousand new jobs. But, all these debates were developed amongequal collocutors, the Bosnian government that defends the interests of its citizens on oneside and the German government that is interested to have as less foreigners as possible. Thecase of Kosova is different: two parties speak about the interests of the third party. So thedilemma is: who will profit economically from the repatriation of Albanians, Serbia orKosova?

The first to react about this issue was the Social-Democratic Party, Luljeta Pula's wing. It'ssecretariat for economic issues suggested that a Fund for the reintegration of refugees fromGermany is created. According to this Secretariat, the German government would make surethat one part of the money would be canalized through the Economic Bank of Prishtinë.These funds could be used only by the returnees. The largest loan would be 250 thousandDEM while a job wouldn't cost more than 50 thousand DEM. The money would be given tothose entrepreneurs that could invest in agriculture, private enterprises and workshops in anyareas. Their program states that only programs that assure productivity and success in themarket should be taken into account.

Such a posture gives the impression that everything is OK and that only the money is beingawaited. But, knowing the environment we are living in, all looks as a utopia. First, theagreement was reached between Germans and Serbs, which could mean that they havereached also an economic agreement; second, Kosova has not a bank of its own that has amechanism to work with its people and finally Kosova is not prepared to accept such ideas and apply them in practice immediately.

In the concrete case, the Economic Bank of Prishtinë is only a bank of restricted capacities,but without any doubt, very much interested and willing to help the private economy inKosova. It is handicapped because it works within the economic system of the self-proclaimed Yugoslavia.

It can actually work only with dinars and can't be engaged in any hard-currency loan, andeven less from abroad. This implies that it has no protection mechanism to stop money fromgoing to another direction that are not its accounts.

Kosova has a bank in Tirana - Dardania Bank, which in fact, is a state bank, for it wasestablished by the Government in exile. So far, it was centered in the short-term loans, butthis is the source of financing of the Albanian educational system. It is an Albanian bank thatfunctions within the Albanian banking system. As long as Kosova is not recognized as a stateby international institutions, this bank remains outside the borders of Kosova, therefore it isvery hard to imagine how would the money be transferred from Germany to Tirana and fromthere to Prishtinë and avoid any contact with the Serbian banks. In the present conditions, thisis unimaginable and impossible.

Regardless of the fact that in the economic plane it seems as if everything must go throughBelgrade, and Albanians have no trust in it, the return of asylum-seekers must, nevertheless,be looked upon as a process that imposes a solution.

Does this mean that the different international mechanisms have elaborated the strategy of thesolution of Kosova's problem? If the asylum-seekers are rejected just to free the Westerncountries from this burden, then this represents a serious economic and political problem. Inthe area of monetary turnover, i.e. the use of assistance coming from countries that deport

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Albanians, unfortunately, a very important ring in the chain is the self-proclaimedYugoslavia, i.e. the Serbian government. The German government recognized this countryand their relations are at the level of ambassadors. This implies the observation of theAlbanians' problem in agreement with Belgrade. And, if any funds are released, then thatmoney will come to the Yugoslav central bank, which will further make the distributionthrough commercial banks that are authorized for hard-currency turnovers. Kosova has nobanks of the kind. It has only the filials of Beogradska Banka, Jugobanka, Investiciona Bankaor some other bank seated in Serbia or Montenegro.

Knowing the kind of legal mechanisms are applied in the sphere of monetary turnover, andlater the need of Serbia to revitalize its ruined economy, then it is very clear why Albaniansdoubt that they will have any material interest on this occasion.

INTERVIEW

ZEKERIA CANA, Historian

THE MANY GRAVES OF GENOCIDE

Interviewed by BATON HAXHIU / Prishtinë

KOHA: You have been investigating the Serb-Montenegrin genocide against Albanians formonths.

CANA: In fact, I have been reading many documents and discovering massive graves for twoyears.

KOHA: Your started by reading many documents. Was 1912 the starting point?

CANA: I have tried my best. I got hold of documents that had never been published before. Iwas allowed to go through the archives of the ministries of interior and foreign affairs ofMontenegro. I used the documents to find out the situation in the field. I have been workingin the area of Plavë, Gusi, the whole Dukagjin plain including all villages and I havecontinued my investigations in other Albanian lands.

KOHA: What have you found in the state archives of Montenegro?

CANA: I studied documents belonging to the period 1912-14. I have taken out sufficient datato prove the escalation of genocide against the Albanians. Including all forms of genocide inthe mountainous area of Plavë and Gusi, by slaughtering and killing Muslims and Catholicsor the same in Gjakovë that then belonged to Albania. There are many documents, manytelegrams. For example, there is a document written by Edith Durham in which she talksabout the slaughtering of families and even how the people were burned inside their houses.

KOHA: What areas are you referring to?

CANA: The documents are clear. Genocide had captivated the villages of Rugova and Deçanvalley. These are the villages burned down by the Montenegrin army in direction to Shkodër

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and starting from the Ulqin plain. They reflect, e.g., the biggest massacre the Albanians weresubjected to - in Qafa e Previsë in 1913. Over 500 Albanians from Gusi were totallymassacred. This is the material I found, and I will soon have it published in a book. It isimportant because it is a material found in the archives of the state that committed thesemassacres.

KOHA: What are the consequences of this genocide?

CANA: It was committed by order of King Nikola. It was a planned genocide. This was thefinalization of plans that Montenegro had made at the end of the last century. It includedethnic cleansing of Albanian lands in order to Slavicize them. It was spread in all Albanianvillages of Gusi. It stated in Vuthaj, Nokshiq, Martinaj and all the villages of the DukagjinPlain.

KOHA: Do the documents reveal the names of perpetrators. Are the names of the ones thatmassacred known?

CANA: Yes. A certain General Vesovic bombarded Junik, Batushë, Ponoshec from themountains... he destroyed whole villages.

In Ponoshec, he and his army killed all the men, they raped the women. He took them to thecloses orthodox church and Christianized them.

KOHA: What has work in the field showed. How accurate is the data on the documentscompared with the situation in the field?

CANA: There is no locality in the Dukagjin Plain without a massive grave. We haveidentified 70 graves.

KOHA: Could you be more precise about the time-frame in which genocide took place?

CANA: There are several phases. The first one is the Balkans War.

The second includes the war from 1918 to 1921. This is the so called second wave ofgenocide. The third period is from 1921-1941 when the Versailles Yugoslavia fell apart. Thenext to the last period, I would say, from 1941-45, when Kosova is liberated thanks to its ownforces, but when the Albanian brigades are transferred to Srem and Banat. They werereplaced by Serb, Montenegrin and Macedonian brigades that massacred the population allover Kosova.

KOHA: Let's go back to where we stopped.

CANA: I haven't studied much of the second phase. I have covered the period between 1918and 1921 and only some characteristic areas that were also massacred. For example,Jabllanica e Gjakovës suffered a big massacre in 1921. I have discovered the graves and allthe data. Then, I covered a bit of 1941 and partially 1944-45 when innocent people wereexecuted in Novosella e Drinit or Novosella e Pejës, as they call it. I also studied the massacreof the peasants in Hoti i Plavës, just beyond Deçan. These are fragmentary studies for I don'thave the sufficient number of assistants. We will focus of 1918 to 1945. If you allow me, Iwould rather concentrate on 1945.

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KOHA: The last discovery was that of Tivar (Bar). What is the truth about the massacre?

CANA: The Albanian historiography has remained silent about Tivar for over 50 years. After1981, the first articles about it started appearing. There is still more to talk about. Thismassacre, is the highest level of genocide, which in literature is known as magna crimen. Thisis the biggest Albanian grave in 1945.

KOHA: Tell us about your discovery.

CANA: The Yearbook of the Kosova Archive published the reports of the Commander andthe Commissars of the Yugoslav and Montenegrin brigades related to the mobilization madein Kosova in spring of 1945, as well as the posterior dislocation of three Albanian columnsmobilized in Prizren and sent to Kukës, Shkodër, Ulqin and Tivar. The documents are verycontradictory. First, the number of the mobilized in not correct. Then the number of victims isnot correct either. One report states that in an accident that was caused when Albaniansallegedly threw bombs at the Yugoslav army that was escorting them, the latter startedshooting back and thus killed 400 Albanians. But these documents give no details about theothers that were killed. In order to find out this, we had to visit all the villages in that area. Itwas important for us to discover the grave. The document ascertains the place, and this isstrange because every country that commits crimes against one people usually makes theproof disappear or reduces its dimensions to the minimum.

KOHA: And where are the first hand documents, as you historians say?

CANA: In the Military Archives in Belgrade. The problem is that these documents don'tcontain sufficient data. There is no explanation about the massacre of the people who weresick, they had typhoid, and were forced to march from Prizren to Tivar. The field proved whatthe documents of the main actors of this genocide, headed by Josip Broz Tito, do not. Afterso many talks with the local population, the indications were that the grave was somewherebeyond Tivar. The first indicator took us to a place called Tugjemil. After the massacre, thepeople were transported as animals in vans and later were carried by train between Tivar andVirpazar. Once at Tugjemil, the bodies were thrown into two deep caves in which onlyspecialists can go down to. Another part of the corpses were thrown into a deep hole in aplace called Suterman, some ten kilometers away from Tugjemil. It was my task to ascertainthe places where the graves are. And so I did, 50 years later.

KOHA: So far there was no mention of the places where the victims of Tivar were buried.

CANA: Yes, it is true. So far we heard only numbers of how many were sent there and howmany were killed - no other explanations... I just wanted to say one more thing: I spoke witha Montenegrin in Tivar, a soldier in the NLA between 1941-1945 and later a high official ofthe police. I spoke to him for over four hours. He corroborated many of the details, butrequested to remain anonymous. We must animate the international factor, because there arespecial institutions that can create special teams and ascertain the exact number of the victimsin the places I mentioned. I don't think that this Yugoslavia will allow the experts' teams tocome in, for this would be sufficient grounds to take them to The Hague Tribunal. This onlyproves that Yugoslavia has committed the crime of genocide on all Albanian lands: Bujanovc,Preshevë, Karadak, Pollog, not to mention Kosova, Prespa, Plava, Gusia, Tivar, etc.

KOHA: Who is to be blamed and accused for such crime?

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CANA: There has been many articles both in Kosova and in Albania, but often there was noobjective posture. The problem is reduced to one issue: who is to blame for the Tivarmassacre. Historians must give an objective reply based on scientific arguments.

I claim that the Kosovan leadership in 1945 shouldn't be blamed for the tragedy. Why? Havein mind that in February 1945, Tito implemented the Martial Law in Kosova. The leadershipis taken over by Serbs and Montenegrins. There are no Albanians there. Even Fadil Hoxha isdegraded from the Commander's post to a nominal leader. The mobilization of Albanians wasmade by the organs of the coercive military administration and no Albanian leader was askedabout that. They had no competence nor power to stop mobilization. However, Albania isalso to blame here, especially its leadership led by Enver Hoxha.

KOHA: Why?

CANA: Because Albania allowed the mobilization of 7,300 people in Kosova and thenpermitted them to pass through its territory. Although suffering from typhoid, and heavilyguarded, they marched through Kukës and up to Shkodër. In cases when some of them triedto save themselves by leaving the column, they were shot dead by the Albanian military. What is worse, when the first contingent of 2,600 people crossed the Buna (Bojana) river toreach the other side, the Albanian army was ordered to assist the Yugoslav army to conductthe soldiers to Tivar. A part of them was killed right on the Buna, by the Albanian soldiers.

This is why not only the Yugoslav party should be taken to The Hague Tribunal, but EnverHoxha's communist regime is also to blame for this tragedy.

ALBANIA

EXPORTS STOPPED AT ALMOST 5,5 BILLION

by ANDREA STEFANI / Tirana

The curve of imports has increased substantially, while that of exports has decreased,stressing even more the foreign trade deficit reaching over 16 billion lekë. These are theresults of the financial analysis of the first six moths of this year that the Statistical Institutehas published recently. Thus, the disproportion in foreign trade continues. The needs and theconjunctures of an economy still under the therapy of transition, oblige Albania to buy moregoods in foreign markets compared to the Made in Albania products it sells abroad. Thisdisproportion - in all trimesters, exports have covered only 30% of the value of importations -comes from the paralysis that a part of the amortized industry inherited from the socialisttimes is suffering. In order to overcome the needs that arise from this disproportion, theAlbanian economy is obliged to use more hard currency abroad, first of all to fill the foodmarket.

Thus the balance of foreign trade with the chronical deficit, remains one of the mostproblematic voices of the states's payment balance. During the second quarter of this year, theexportation stopped at 5 billion and 439 million lekë, which is 8,6% less than in the firstquarter, but also 16,8% higher than in the same period last year. However, the importations

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curve is really strongly going up. In the second quarter, it was worth 22 billion and 31 millionlekë and was 13,4% higher than in the first quarter.

Comparing it with the same period of 1995, the value of imports is 42,3% higher. And theabsolute figure of the trade deficit is about 16 billion lekë. The value of the exportationrepresents only 24,7% of the value of the imported goods.

It has become evident that the private enterprises cover almost 80% of the total of Albania'sexports and imports. The structure of the exported goods over 50% of the total are textile andshoes. This is the result of the increase of exports of products produced with raw material thatthe importer abroad brings in.

In regard to the structure of importation, it is evident that Albania, continues importing food,spirits and cigarettes (some 30,5% of the imported goods). However, 24,7% of the goods areequipment and machines.

The main partners of Albania in this sense remain Italy and Greece. They received 70% of theAlbanian exported goods and represent the main exporters (60%). During the years oftransition, the tendency of liberalization of the import-export regime has become obviouscompared to the centralization that characterized it. This characteristic has been noticed alsobecause of the fact that the state has not much to do in this area. The initiative is in the handsof the private owners.

Imports have been liberalized in general, except of the strategic goods - say the officials at theMinistry of Trade. Importers must have permits to import weapons, ammunition andmedicaments. Exportation has also been liberalized completely. There is a system of licencesin accordance with an agreement reached with the EU for textile produced with the materialof the importer. But these are international permits, not Albanian. The fiscal system inAlbania applies customs tariffs only for importations aiming at inciting the exportation ofdomestic products.

The system of the classification of goods based on European nomenclature and eachrespective product has a determined tariff. There are three levels of tariffs: 7, 25 and 40% ofthe values of the product. The 7% tariffs applied on raw material and some imported foodproducts, e.g. flour, sugar, or vegetal oil. The 25% tariff is applied in general consumersgoods. The 40% tariff is applied on products that are still considered to be luxurious forAlbanians. All imported goods are applied another 12,5% Tax on Aggregated Value, whilesome other products (i.e. alcoholic drinks, etc.) are applied also different levels of customstaxes.

MACEDONIA

INTOXICATION OF INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS

observations by HYSEN RAMADANI / Shkup

The intoxication of the Albanian pupils in Tetova has been object of political evaluations andconcerns, especially in the western part of the country - among all citizens. However, this

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concern doesn't seem to exist among the health-care, political and educational organs. Andregardless of the fact that there were many sick children, and where the population becamevery upset, none of the competent officials came out in public with a statement about theevents and causes. None of the elected public personalities went to visit the children or theirfamilies.

But, let's look into the objective side first. Is it a massive illness, health-care problems ofchildren, or is it a matter of their massive acting, as we had the opportunity to hear and read inthe public media. All doctors in Tetova, regardless of the national appertaining, are unique intheir statements claiming that these are sick children, with fever, nausea, vomiting,convulsions, cramps etc. If there is no mention of any toxic substance, could this be all ofpsychogenic origin? Does this mean that health-care and police organs need something moreto happen in order to start and analyze the situation and come out in public with some results? How is it possible that in the past four months (since the first case in which pupils fromTetova got ill while in Struga), that nothing has been done in the direction of trying to clarifythe situation.

Now we are referring to intoxication in a general environment in a very sensitive aspect - theinter-ethnic relations. If we reject the supposition on the "self-intoxication" of the children,their manipulation by Albanians and on the acting of the children, as an absurd, then whocould be the intoxicator and for what reason?

Based on what has been published so far and said in public, the intoxicators are extremists,they wish to incite inter-ethnic tensions, those who don't agree with the politics of dialogue -i.e., those who are against the coexistence of Albanians and Macedonians in Macedonia andthose who are against Macedonia in general. But, this is the only place in which the officialmedia and officials on one hand and the Albanian political factor agree. Each of the sidesconsiders the extremism of the other as the cause, not analyzing anything. Not entering intodeeper explanations, on this occasion I wish to say that, so far, extremism among Albanianscan be related mainly to the level of giving-in and control, regardless of whether it is of theinternal or external factor inside Macedonia. It could be incitement from the outside andcould eventually cause an over-dose explosion, and can only cause excesses.

The second question is who needs Albanian extremism? the situation and the prospects ofAlbanians in Macedonia, the international position of Macedonia, the politics of the Republicof Albania, the situation in Kosova, the disposition of the relevant international factors, proveclearly that the radicalism of Albanians is not profitable, is a failed politics now and in theperspective. But, if such a politics exist and if it had a considerable space, which occasionallylives and expansion with a visible direct support of an individual, state organs, then thesupposition could be that this politics is constructed outside the Albanian world. In this case,the logic is simple: one extremism needs the other in order to justify itself. One must have inmind that Macedonian extremism has more possibilities to follow, stimulate, provokeAlbanian extremism.

The purposes of both extremisms are the same: to show the other party to the domestic andinternational public, as the side to blame for the intoxication of the inter-ethnic relations, asthe cause of instability. To prove that coexistence is impossible, to electricize and mobilizethe masses, to create an atmosphere that would lead to it.

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I am faraway from identifying the governmental organs and the leading political forces withthe Macedonian extremism. On the contrary, I am convinced that the dominant part of theactual state structure is engaged to try and balance the inter-national relations, trying to find abalance between the national and the civil for the composition and the functioning of thestate. But, this fact doesn't exclude the possibility to have groups and individuals thatorganize continuous actions, contrary to the basic purposes of the political and state organs.The possibility that a part of the state, especially the police organs, are outside the directcontrol of the state organs and these wish to compromise not only the other side, but also thestate politics itself.

This can bring us to the simplified conclusion that the intoxication of children and otherprovocations of this nature, are acts of the extreme parts of the Albanian politics aiming atcompromising the moderate part and thus make the Albanian public retrocede. Thissupposition is not ungrounded, but my purpose was to draw the attention towards the otherside of the problem: attention should be paid to the current Macedonian extremism thatwishes not to "destroy" and not make the Albanian extremism disappear. On the contrary, assoon as it feels that it is falling, it finds the modus to stimulate it. To be honest, it could bethat in our conditions, the anti-Albanian Macedonian extremism is much stronger.

I am also not very certain about the evaluation made in the past days, about the incapable andunorganized police, in the concrete case of the ill children. It is rather a serious concern if thepolice is indifferent to the things happening and are under the police control and are notpublic.

In other words, with the intoxication of children - toxic or psychogenetic - we all getintoxicated! This suits, I believe, the extremist minority of both sides.

Will be subjugate to their mischiefs?

POLEMICS

KOSOVA IS NOT FOR SALE

by MUHARREM ISMAILI / Prishtinë

Your magazine has, in the past two issues, dedicated quite some space to a very interestingand important topic, the situation and problems of the Kosova economy and banking system,their transformation and privatization. A special attention should be dedicated to theinterview of B. Karic, the head of the Karic system. In his presentation, Karic first refers tohis development path from a private entrepreneur to the founder of a corporation, i.e. the BKsystem. But, instead of the expected talk about economical topics with a special emphasis onthe privatization of the banks and the economy, Karic concentrates generally on short andlong term political needs. Besides this, Karic doesn't say the whole truth, specially when hetalks of his transformation from a private owner to founder of the BK corporation.

From the interview, one can gain the impression that Karic has forgotten that his economicdevelopment in Kosova started in enterprises called "Kosovouniverzum" and "Metalac",Brothers Karic Enterprise, Pejë. In the period from 1978 and until 1988, these enterprises

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were given loans from the Federation Fund worth 3,5 million DEM. I would just want tostress that according to the law, no private enterprises were entitled to loans from theFederation Fund until 1989. To make possible the use of the funds, and thus enable Karic'squicker development, the National Bank, the Chamber of Commerce and other systemorganizations and institutions gave them a privileged treatment, as if they were a societalowned enterprise.

Apart from the money coming from the Federation Fund, brothers Karic have, through manyof their firms, used bank loans in 1986 worth some 400 thousand DEM, further on, they havereceived money from the International Financial Corporation in 1981, when they weregranted 86,180 US$ and 86,180 DEM in loans.

Are more arguments necessary to oppose Karic's statement that he was not supported orhelped by the institutions of the system, including the banks in Kosova.

In the conversations with your journalist, Karic makes a special analysis of the bankruptcyprocedure of the Bank of Kosova, stating that since three years ago he has be working hard ongetting over the bank and try to include it in its banking system (through RAS Banka).According to him, he has not found understanding at the Economic Court in Belgrade, nor thepolitical structures, but that his was working in that direction. This is why I was invited byhim in a meeting on 24 September 1996. The meeting was attended by Skënder Belegu,director of the filial of RAS Banka in Prishtinë and Muhamet Mulhaxha, the #1 officer forfinancial issues in the BK system. The topic of the conversation was how to take over theBank of Kosova, and thus have RAS Banka change its name and adapt to the Kosovancircumstances. In regard to the obligations that together with the interests sum 1 billiondollars, they said that this matter would remain pending and would be taken care of by thestate. I would like to stress that I was invited to the meeting as the last chairman of themanaging board of the Bank of Kosova.

Of course, I couldn't agree with the offered concept, because I don't have the mandate to doso, while my profession and the economic logic tell me that this is a completely irrationalsolution. It is clear that the intention is to get hold of the property of the Bank by promisingthat they would employ the former employees of the Bank, mainly Albanians. The questionarises, first, is it real to expect the return of almost 1000 employees that were dismissed dueto the political bankruptcy procedure? How does Karic intend to bring back the people to thebank in which at least 80% of them have spent over 20 years of work, and at the same time,without any compensation or investment become owner of the bank, just like that.

Bogoljub Karic says that he hasn't found any understanding for his concept at the EconomicCourt in Belgrade. On this occasion he doesn't say that his offer to take over the Bank ofKosova has been rejected officially by the federal organs. Afterwards came the offers for the"revitalization " of the obligations and solicitations of the Bank of Kosova towards the world.And thus continues the practice of offering one thing after the other in the same style, all ofwhich aim at becoming proprietor of 27,000 squared meters of buildings and modernequipment in Kosova as well as 3,000 squared meters in Belgrade in the best locationspossible. In order to achieve his purpose, he always refers to the political leadership of Serbia.

Analyzing all what Karic said, and following the events in economy and the bankingbusiness, and partially the political plane, I must ask several question that impose themselves:

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1. The application of the emergency measures started in Ferizaj first, in the Factory of Tubes,and later their implementation was spread to all enterprises in Kosova, including the RedCross. All of it was done under the motto: "we want to protect the societal property and self-managing relations from the separatists". The question is whether Bogoljub Karic wanted touse the Bank of Kosova to start and "fix" the other part of the economy of Kosova?

2. It is well known how big are the debts of the Kosovan economy. Maybe it was Karic'sintention to sell out Kosova's economy at low prices with the introduction of Americans,Germans, Canadians and French in Kosova's economy.

3. With the conversion of the debt into shares according to the prices in the secondary market,and with capable economic operations, this will lead to take over the whole of Kosova inprivate hands.

4. We know that BK system was created thanks to the money dedicated for Kosova'sdevelopment. In the past five years, the BK system has become one of the largest in EasternEurope. There is no doubt that taking over the economy and the bank in Kosova would allowKaric to create a larger corporation, an image similar to SONY, SIEMENS, etc. Isn't a bitexaggerated, even for the BK system?

5. Since the majority of Karic's replies were rather political, I came to the conclusion thatthere is a solution for Kosova's problems in the horizon. Maybe Karic is hurrying up to get tothe starting position in order to have it easier to accomplish his aims in the Kosovan economyand banking, as well as gain political points in the political aspect?

6. Karic excluded the local human factor in all his replies. He said that he would engageexperts from abroad who will also bring capital. I would just like to remind him of astatement made by a SPS official, who just came back for New York. In regard to the solutionof Kosova's problem, he said: "If Yugoslavia wishes to have foreign investments, it musteliminate the fear of the eventual partners from the explosion of any unrest".

7. I decided to start a polemics with Karic because of the previous posts I held in economyand the banking system, in order to eliminate all possible dilemmas. For the same reason, it isgood to have our cadres and experts, as well as political structures involved in this issue, sowe don't have to pay the extremely high price from the near past.