http://www.sunday-times.co.uk (World)
Sunday Times
March 11 2001
Albanian exiles fund Balkans war
Tom Walker and Alex Todorovic
THE Albanian diaspora is pouring millions of pounds
into secretive funds helping guerrillas in southern
Serbia and Macedonia fight for a "greater Albania" in
an operation that threatens Nato's peacekeeping forces
in the Balkans.
Although police throughout western Europe, including
Britain, are looking at ways of cutting off the funds
- which came to prominence during the Kosovo conflict
- they admit they have had little success.
Radicals among the diaspora, such as Leka Zog, the
exiled pretender to the Albanian throne, have vowed to
continue supporting the struggle in whatever way they
can.
Increased co-operation between Belgrade and London in
the battle against Balkan racketeering was discussed
at a recent meeting between a Yugoslav government
adviser and Home Office officials. Belgrade files on
the Albanian mafia are to be made available to British
police for the first time in an effort to stem the
flow of money and arms.
Last week Kosovo Albanians in London confirmed that
they had received new demands for contributions to
unspecified causes. One estimated that up to £5,000 a
week was being raised in London; another said he
feared for the safety of his two brothers and elderly
mother in Pristina, the Kosovo capital, if he failed
to pay up.
In Switzerland federal investigators said they were
struggling to link Albanian funds with weapons
purchases because most such deals were struck by
mobile telephone and within the rigid patriarchal
family structures.
The so-called "Homeland Calling Fund", the main
cash-for-arms conduit used during the Kosovo war, is
thought to have been closed. However, the police
believe another fund, ostensibly to raise cash for the
Albanian University of Tetovo in Macedonia, is playing
a similar role.
Leka Zog, whose father, King Zog, ruled Albania
briefly before the second world war, is said to be
preparing for a trip to Kosovo to call for the
"unification" of territory dominated by Albanians.
Suleman Ganaj, a prominent royalist, complained that
Albanians living in Macedonia were treated like
second-class citizens. "They want freedom," he said.
"We support every step taken by Albanians still under
the domination of foreign powers, every attempt to
free ourselves from Serbs, Macedonians and other
neighbours."
Ganaj warned that the tolerance of Nato's peacekeeping
troops in Kosovo was wearing thin. "Kosovo should have
independence and its own army," he said.
Maps of a greater Albania on diaspora websites feature
a swathe of territory around Kosovo, taking in an arc
of land in southern Serbia and across into Macedonia,
including the capital, Skopje. Further west,
Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, is shown as
Albanian - as are territories in northern Greece.
Fighting flared last week in the Presevo Valley in
southern Serbia and in the nearby Albanian-majority
borderlands in Macedonia. Presevo Albanians and Serbs
failed to agree on a local ceasefire last night,
despite intense negotiations involving the United
Nations and European Union monitors.
Albanian guerrillas said this weekend that they had no
intention of allowing the Yugoslav army into the
security zone between Kosovo and southern Serbia, even
though Nato has given Belgrade approval.
Talat, a young rebel, said that fighting the Serbs had
helped to make 2001 "the best year of my life". He
said that after each border clash the guerrillas'
numbers swell, gaining as many as 70 new volunteers a
day.
The funds coming from abroad and from within Kosovo
have helped to prepare a force of about 2,000 along
the Presevo and Macedonian fronts, he said, and their
leaders aim to enlarge Kosovo's territory.
Talat showed reporters a small field hospital inside
the exclusion zone, where he hugged an injured
colleague, a bearded fighter with the nom de guerre of
Masovitsa. His left hand was loosely wrapped in gauze
and plastered with ointment, but the flesh hung from
his fingertips.
"They [the Serbs] were attacking from all sides with
machineguns, tanks and rockets," Masovitsa said. "At
one point there were only about 50 yards between us
and them." He described how he had shielded his face
with his hands as a rocket exploded nearby. "God saved
my life," he concluded.
A further group of about 300 rebels calling themselves
the National Liberation Army (NLA) was forced by
American soldiers from its headquarters in Tanusevci,
a Macedonian border village. Three Macedonian
policemen had been killed and the Skopje government
was critical of Nato peacekeepers for allowing the
rebels into the country from Kosovo.
The guerrillas, led by Ismet Yashari, then attacked a
police convoy escorting Ljube Boskovski, Macedonia's
deputy interior minister, a few miles south of
Tanusevci at Brest.
A rocket-propelled grenade fired by the NLA killed a
driver in the convoy, which was then pinned down for
12 hours by the rebels. Srdjan Kerim, the Macedonian
foreign minister, has asked Nato to seal off the
130-mile border with Kosovo to stop rebels slipping
through.
The Bush administration in Washington made it clear
this weekend that Slobodan Milosevic, the former
Serbian leader, would have to be arrested in Serbia -
but not necessarily handed over to the war criminal
tribunal in the Hague - by March 31 if Yugoslavia is
to receive hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of
aid.
Additional reporting: Juliet Terzieff, James Pettifer,
Fiona Fleck
-------- Original Message --------
Oggetto: Prof. Négovan Rajic: DE KABOUL À KOSOVO
Data: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 23:18:25 -0500
DE KABOUL ? KOSOVO
Le destruction barbare des boudhas g?ants en Afghanistan a provoqu?, ?
juste titre, un toll? de protestations dans le monde.
Qu'ils soient croyants ou non, tous les hommes civilis?s ressentiront
douloureusement ce geste comme un affront intol?rable ?
la culture. Il s'agit non seulement d'une atteinte au patrimoine
artistique de l'humanit? , mais aussi ? son histoire et ? sa
m?moire collective .
Malheureusement, ? l'heure o? j'?cris ces lignes, les Thalibans ont d?j?
transform? en un tas de pierres ces falaises de gr?s
auxquelles les pieux moines bouddhistes avaient jadis insuffl? une ?me.
Aucune grande puissance n'avait pas os? envoyer ses
troupes dans le gu?pier afghan pour sauver ces tr?sors inestimables . Si
? la limite cela peut se justifier par souci d'?pargner
des vies humaines , on ne peut comprendre comment au Kosovo, au coeur de
l'Europe, et en pr?sence des troupes des
Nations Unies, l'Occident puisse assister, sans broncher, ? la
destruction des monuments d'une civilisation qui en fin de
compte lui appartient. Qui peut croire les commandants de la KFOR,
disposant d'une arm?e de 40 000 soldats et de deux
mille policiers sur un territoire ne d?passant pas celui d'un
d?partement fran?ais, quand ils pr?tendent n'avoir pas de moyens
suffisants pour prot?ger les populations serbes des extr?mistes albanais
et emp?cher la destruction d'une centaine d'?glises
chr?tiennes dont certaines ?taient orn?es des fresques admirables datant
du Moyen Age? Comment cela se fait-il que les
dirigeants occidentaux et ces intellectuels qui encore hier satanisaient
les Serbes, en les accusant de tous les crimes possibles,
se taisent aujourd'hui l?chement?
Combien de temps l'Occident pourrait-il fermer les yeux devant une
r?alit? qui demain risque de le rattraper comme elle a
rattrap? jadis les dirigeants nazis. Non, demain , ses dirigeants
n'auront pas le droit de dire: nous ne savions pas. Les ?glises
orthodoxes sont d?truites ? la dynamite, les maisons serbes incendi?es
et les vieux cimeti?res profan?s en pr?sence des
troupes de la communaut? internationale , celle-l? m?me qui pr?tend
s'?riger en juge supr?me du bien et du mal.
Comble de cynisme ou d'inconscience, on nous dit maintenant que le
commandant des troupes alli?es au Kosovo, complice
des terroristes, songe confier la garde des monast?res orthodoxes,
encore d?bout, aux anciens soldats de l'UCK! Hitler
lui-m?me n'avait pas os? pousser la perfidie jusqu'? confier la
protection des synagogues aux formations des SS! Si la
nouvelle se confirme , il faudra mettre une croix sur les derniers
vestiges de ces joyaux d'art m?di?val, prot?g?s par
l'UNESCO et t?moin s muets d'une civilisation mise ? mort comme les
boudhas g?ants.
Mais ne nous d?trompons pas, leur disparition sera aussi notre d?faite
morale et les puissants de ce monde n'auront pas la
conscience tranquille en essayant de nous persuader que cette
destruction est ce que les Serbes ont m?rit? par leurs crimes,
car qui, ? l'heure o? les grandes compagnies p?troli?res ?laborent d?j?
des plans pour sillonner de pipelines la p?ninsule
balkanique , puisse encore croire que la guerre contre la Yougoslavie
fut une guerre humanitaire?
N?govan
---
---
Questa lista e' provvisoriamente curata da componenti
dell'ex Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'",
oggi "Comitato Promotore dell'Assemblea Antimperialista":
> http://www.tuttinlotta.org
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono questa struttura, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only").
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Per inviare materiali e commenti: <jugocoord@...>
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> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/messages
Sito WEB (non aggiornato):
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Sunday Times
March 11 2001
Albanian exiles fund Balkans war
Tom Walker and Alex Todorovic
THE Albanian diaspora is pouring millions of pounds
into secretive funds helping guerrillas in southern
Serbia and Macedonia fight for a "greater Albania" in
an operation that threatens Nato's peacekeeping forces
in the Balkans.
Although police throughout western Europe, including
Britain, are looking at ways of cutting off the funds
- which came to prominence during the Kosovo conflict
- they admit they have had little success.
Radicals among the diaspora, such as Leka Zog, the
exiled pretender to the Albanian throne, have vowed to
continue supporting the struggle in whatever way they
can.
Increased co-operation between Belgrade and London in
the battle against Balkan racketeering was discussed
at a recent meeting between a Yugoslav government
adviser and Home Office officials. Belgrade files on
the Albanian mafia are to be made available to British
police for the first time in an effort to stem the
flow of money and arms.
Last week Kosovo Albanians in London confirmed that
they had received new demands for contributions to
unspecified causes. One estimated that up to £5,000 a
week was being raised in London; another said he
feared for the safety of his two brothers and elderly
mother in Pristina, the Kosovo capital, if he failed
to pay up.
In Switzerland federal investigators said they were
struggling to link Albanian funds with weapons
purchases because most such deals were struck by
mobile telephone and within the rigid patriarchal
family structures.
The so-called "Homeland Calling Fund", the main
cash-for-arms conduit used during the Kosovo war, is
thought to have been closed. However, the police
believe another fund, ostensibly to raise cash for the
Albanian University of Tetovo in Macedonia, is playing
a similar role.
Leka Zog, whose father, King Zog, ruled Albania
briefly before the second world war, is said to be
preparing for a trip to Kosovo to call for the
"unification" of territory dominated by Albanians.
Suleman Ganaj, a prominent royalist, complained that
Albanians living in Macedonia were treated like
second-class citizens. "They want freedom," he said.
"We support every step taken by Albanians still under
the domination of foreign powers, every attempt to
free ourselves from Serbs, Macedonians and other
neighbours."
Ganaj warned that the tolerance of Nato's peacekeeping
troops in Kosovo was wearing thin. "Kosovo should have
independence and its own army," he said.
Maps of a greater Albania on diaspora websites feature
a swathe of territory around Kosovo, taking in an arc
of land in southern Serbia and across into Macedonia,
including the capital, Skopje. Further west,
Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, is shown as
Albanian - as are territories in northern Greece.
Fighting flared last week in the Presevo Valley in
southern Serbia and in the nearby Albanian-majority
borderlands in Macedonia. Presevo Albanians and Serbs
failed to agree on a local ceasefire last night,
despite intense negotiations involving the United
Nations and European Union monitors.
Albanian guerrillas said this weekend that they had no
intention of allowing the Yugoslav army into the
security zone between Kosovo and southern Serbia, even
though Nato has given Belgrade approval.
Talat, a young rebel, said that fighting the Serbs had
helped to make 2001 "the best year of my life". He
said that after each border clash the guerrillas'
numbers swell, gaining as many as 70 new volunteers a
day.
The funds coming from abroad and from within Kosovo
have helped to prepare a force of about 2,000 along
the Presevo and Macedonian fronts, he said, and their
leaders aim to enlarge Kosovo's territory.
Talat showed reporters a small field hospital inside
the exclusion zone, where he hugged an injured
colleague, a bearded fighter with the nom de guerre of
Masovitsa. His left hand was loosely wrapped in gauze
and plastered with ointment, but the flesh hung from
his fingertips.
"They [the Serbs] were attacking from all sides with
machineguns, tanks and rockets," Masovitsa said. "At
one point there were only about 50 yards between us
and them." He described how he had shielded his face
with his hands as a rocket exploded nearby. "God saved
my life," he concluded.
A further group of about 300 rebels calling themselves
the National Liberation Army (NLA) was forced by
American soldiers from its headquarters in Tanusevci,
a Macedonian border village. Three Macedonian
policemen had been killed and the Skopje government
was critical of Nato peacekeepers for allowing the
rebels into the country from Kosovo.
The guerrillas, led by Ismet Yashari, then attacked a
police convoy escorting Ljube Boskovski, Macedonia's
deputy interior minister, a few miles south of
Tanusevci at Brest.
A rocket-propelled grenade fired by the NLA killed a
driver in the convoy, which was then pinned down for
12 hours by the rebels. Srdjan Kerim, the Macedonian
foreign minister, has asked Nato to seal off the
130-mile border with Kosovo to stop rebels slipping
through.
The Bush administration in Washington made it clear
this weekend that Slobodan Milosevic, the former
Serbian leader, would have to be arrested in Serbia -
but not necessarily handed over to the war criminal
tribunal in the Hague - by March 31 if Yugoslavia is
to receive hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of
aid.
Additional reporting: Juliet Terzieff, James Pettifer,
Fiona Fleck
-------- Original Message --------
Oggetto: Prof. Négovan Rajic: DE KABOUL À KOSOVO
Data: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 23:18:25 -0500
DE KABOUL ? KOSOVO
Le destruction barbare des boudhas g?ants en Afghanistan a provoqu?, ?
juste titre, un toll? de protestations dans le monde.
Qu'ils soient croyants ou non, tous les hommes civilis?s ressentiront
douloureusement ce geste comme un affront intol?rable ?
la culture. Il s'agit non seulement d'une atteinte au patrimoine
artistique de l'humanit? , mais aussi ? son histoire et ? sa
m?moire collective .
Malheureusement, ? l'heure o? j'?cris ces lignes, les Thalibans ont d?j?
transform? en un tas de pierres ces falaises de gr?s
auxquelles les pieux moines bouddhistes avaient jadis insuffl? une ?me.
Aucune grande puissance n'avait pas os? envoyer ses
troupes dans le gu?pier afghan pour sauver ces tr?sors inestimables . Si
? la limite cela peut se justifier par souci d'?pargner
des vies humaines , on ne peut comprendre comment au Kosovo, au coeur de
l'Europe, et en pr?sence des troupes des
Nations Unies, l'Occident puisse assister, sans broncher, ? la
destruction des monuments d'une civilisation qui en fin de
compte lui appartient. Qui peut croire les commandants de la KFOR,
disposant d'une arm?e de 40 000 soldats et de deux
mille policiers sur un territoire ne d?passant pas celui d'un
d?partement fran?ais, quand ils pr?tendent n'avoir pas de moyens
suffisants pour prot?ger les populations serbes des extr?mistes albanais
et emp?cher la destruction d'une centaine d'?glises
chr?tiennes dont certaines ?taient orn?es des fresques admirables datant
du Moyen Age? Comment cela se fait-il que les
dirigeants occidentaux et ces intellectuels qui encore hier satanisaient
les Serbes, en les accusant de tous les crimes possibles,
se taisent aujourd'hui l?chement?
Combien de temps l'Occident pourrait-il fermer les yeux devant une
r?alit? qui demain risque de le rattraper comme elle a
rattrap? jadis les dirigeants nazis. Non, demain , ses dirigeants
n'auront pas le droit de dire: nous ne savions pas. Les ?glises
orthodoxes sont d?truites ? la dynamite, les maisons serbes incendi?es
et les vieux cimeti?res profan?s en pr?sence des
troupes de la communaut? internationale , celle-l? m?me qui pr?tend
s'?riger en juge supr?me du bien et du mal.
Comble de cynisme ou d'inconscience, on nous dit maintenant que le
commandant des troupes alli?es au Kosovo, complice
des terroristes, songe confier la garde des monast?res orthodoxes,
encore d?bout, aux anciens soldats de l'UCK! Hitler
lui-m?me n'avait pas os? pousser la perfidie jusqu'? confier la
protection des synagogues aux formations des SS! Si la
nouvelle se confirme , il faudra mettre une croix sur les derniers
vestiges de ces joyaux d'art m?di?val, prot?g?s par
l'UNESCO et t?moin s muets d'une civilisation mise ? mort comme les
boudhas g?ants.
Mais ne nous d?trompons pas, leur disparition sera aussi notre d?faite
morale et les puissants de ce monde n'auront pas la
conscience tranquille en essayant de nous persuader que cette
destruction est ce que les Serbes ont m?rit? par leurs crimes,
car qui, ? l'heure o? les grandes compagnies p?troli?res ?laborent d?j?
des plans pour sillonner de pipelines la p?ninsule
balkanique , puisse encore croire que la guerre contre la Yougoslavie
fut une guerre humanitaire?
N?govan
---
---
Questa lista e' provvisoriamente curata da componenti
dell'ex Coordinamento Nazionale "La Jugoslavia Vivra'",
oggi "Comitato Promotore dell'Assemblea Antimperialista":
> http://www.tuttinlotta.org
I documenti distribuiti non rispecchiano necessariamente le
opinioni delle realta' che compongono questa struttura, ma
vengono fatti circolare per il loro contenuto informativo al
solo scopo di segnalazione e commento ("for fair use only").
Per iscriversi al bollettino: <jugoinfo-subscribe@...>
Per cancellarsi: <jugoinfo-unsubscribe@...>
Per inviare materiali e commenti: <jugocoord@...>
Archivio:
> http://www.domeus.it/circles/jugoinfo
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/messages
Sito WEB (non aggiornato):
> http://digilander.iol.it/lajugoslaviavivra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ti piace leggere?
Cosa preferisci?
I classici, gli erotici, le favole, la magia...?
Scopri le 5 straordinarie offerte: + del 50% di sconto!
da eCircle e Gullivertown
http://www.domeus.it/ad1182572/216.74.87.165
Se vuoi cancellarti da questo gruppo, clicca qui: http://www.domeus.it/info/unsubscribe