[www.ANTIC.org] [Fwd: Fw: Freedom fight in the Hague (10)]
--- Begin Message --- - Original Message - From: Vladimir Krsljanin To: Undisclosed-Recipient:@smtp.sps.org.yu; Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 7:11 PM Subject: Freedom fight in the Hague (10) FREEDOM ASSOCIATION SPECIAL BULLETIN No.10 May 22, 2002 THE MASSACRE IN RACAK FABRICATED As far as the cross-examination of the witnesses of The Hague Prosecution by Slobodan Milosevic goes on, it gets clearer that the alleged massacre of civilians was fabricated in order to serve to NATO aggressors as some kind of pretext to start the bombing of Yugoslavia. Yesterdays and today's testimony of the Canadian general Michel Maisoneuve, who was member of the OSCE Verification Mission and Head of the Prizren Regional Center, has shown that, too. From his testimony one could see that one of the key tasks of the Prosecution is to present Racak as a crime against civilians, in order to justify the NATO aggression. However, as much as the general tried to respond to the suggestive Prosecutor's questions and present the Racak events as a brutal crackdown of the Police with the locals, confronted with Milosevic's questions he seldom had to confess it was a conflict between the Police and the KLA terrorists. After all, the OSCE Mission itself confirmed that among the deads were KLA members as well. General Maisoneuve, for instance, on Milosevic's question could not deny that the Verification Mission made efforts to affirm the KLA as a legitimate side in the conflict, since he was the author of the mission document where this was explicitly specified and which Milosevic had quoted. Maisoneuve tried to present this as an attempt of the mission to establish trust. This way he also tried to justify the complaint raised by him and the mission as to why the investigation judge came to Racak the day after the event escorted by the Police. However, when asked if it meant that him and the mission are denying the sovereignty of Yugoslavia and Serbia on that part of their territory as well as the right of the legal authorities of the State to eliminate the terrorists who are violently struggling for secession, Maisoneuve had to confess that this would not be right and that he does not consider this was the task of the mission. Maisoneuve had to confess that in all of the occasions when OSCE Mission's verifiers were present, the Police behaved in a correct and professional way. In the OSCE reports, however, brutal crackdowns of Albanian civilians by the Serbian Police were mentioned, which was done according to the witness on the basis of testimonies of the Albanians. Maisoneuve had problems while explaining the allegations from the mission reports about Army tank and artillery attacks on Racak civilian homes from distance. On a direct question if there were any victims in Racak of these mortar attacks, the witness had to admit there were not, reducing his whole story on Army involvement to him being told by one of his verifiers that one tank had hit a house. He was also forced by Milosevic's cross-examination to deny that Army individuals have accused the Police for intervening in Racak. General Maisoneuve tried not to avoid answers to direct questions, so that Milosevic succeeded to make his answers more useful to the Defence than to the Prosecution. That is why judge May did his best to avoid such a situation. When asked by Milosevic if, after everything he found out so far about the Racak events he still personally considers there had been a massacre, May promptly intervened and explicitly prevented him from answering that question. A totally separate story are the Racak victims, for whom the OSCE mission chief William Walker affirmed they were civilian ones killed from a close range on the same spot, where the day after dead bodies were found. After the cross-examination of this witness, as well as of other ones before, it came out rather evident that these people perished in combat and were brought to one single spot in order to make it look as if they were executed. Milosevic has proved that serious fighting took place between the Police and the KLA forces, trenched around the village, and that the bodies were brought and grouped up after the Police and OSCE verifiers had withdrawn. This was evident from the position of the bodies, as well as from the findings of the forensic teams who examined them. After a series of usuccessful attempts to build-up a Walker's fabricated story about Racak through testimonies of witnesses, the prosecution attempted to bring one of its own investigators to appear as witness with special goal - to present to the court a "summary" of the events in Racak, based on written statements of "many witnesses" who did not appear, as well as on tons of "documents" collected by prosecution. After a sharp complaint by President Milosevic against the "indirect witnesses", the "trial chamber" decided not to
[www.ANTIC.org] USAID Providing $3 Million for Balkan Youth Initiative
Title: Message Text: USAID Providing $3 Million for Balkan Youth Initiative (Goal is to improve conditions, prospects for young people) (550) The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is contributing $3million to an initiative designed to improve conditions and prospects foryoung people in the Balkans over the next three years. Youth in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, theformer Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro willbe eligible for support. Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, chairman of the foundation thatis receiving the USAID grant, noted the challenges faced by Balkan youthtoday and commended the Bush Administration for being a partner in effortsto make their lives better. Following is a USAID press release with details: (begin text) U.S. Agency for International DevelopmentWashington, D.C. 20523http://www.usaid.gov May 30, 2002 U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AWARDS $3 MILLION TO BALKANYOUTH INITIATIVE Washington, DC -- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)announced today that it will provide $3 million to help support youthdevelopment in the Balkans. Through a partnership with the InternationalYouth Foundation (IYF), USAID's contribution will fund the Balkan Childrenand Youth Foundation (BCYF), a partner of the IYF global network. Theprogram will support regional initiatives to improve the conditions andprospects for young people over the next three years. USAID Assistant Administrator Kent Hill officially announced thepartnership at the 2002 Three Sector Conference, held by the US Chamber ofCommerce in Washington, DC. "The Bush Administration is extremely pleased to be able to provide this$3 million grant," said Hill. "USAID recognizes the important role ofyouth in making and sustaining the transition to democracy and openmarkets." During a two-day board meeting of BCYF in Prishtina, Kosovo, formerPresident of Finland Martti Ahtisaari, who is now the Chairman of theBoard of BCYF and IYF's Global Action Council, spoke on the impact thegrant will have on the region. "Young people in the Balkan region faceenormous challenges as they struggle to overcome decades of ethnic strifeand political and social upheaval," said Ahtisaari. "We salute USAID andthe Bush Administration for this new partnership -- with its emphasis onengaging the public, private, and civil society sectors -- an approach webelieve is the only way to generate lasting results. It will significantlystrengthen our efforts to improve the prospects of young people across theBalkans." The event in Prishtina took place simultaneously with the grantannouncement and signing ceremony in Washington with other senior USAIDand IYF officials. The signing was highlighted at the Three Sector Conference, promotingcivic engagement and development, and the importance of partnerships amonggovernment, nonprofit, and business sectors. Launched in 2000, BCYF supports a range of youth initiatives, such as aprogram to promote values of gender equality and tolerance in Zagreb,Croatia; an initiative in Skopje, Macedonia that helps adolescent Romagirls stay in school; and a program in Serbia that enables young artiststo display and market their art via the Internet. Youth in Albania, Bosniaand Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia andMontenegro will be eligible for support through the grant. U.S. Agency for International Development is the government agency thathas provided humanitarian assistance and economic development worldwidefor more than 40 years. Contact: USAID Press Office (202) 712-4320 (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
[www.ANTIC.org] Freedom fight in the Hague ERRATUM
FREEDOM ASSOCIATION SPECIAL BULLETIN No.9 should have been dated May 28, 2002 and FREEDOM ASSOCIATION SPECIAL BULLETIN No.10 should have been dated May 30, 2002 To join or help this struggle, visit:http://www.sps.org.yu/ (official SPS website)http://www.belgrade-forum.org/ (forum for the world of equals)http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan Milosevic)http://www.jutarnje.co.yu/ ('morning news' the only Serbian newspaper advocating liberation)
[www.ANTIC.org] Freedom fight in the Hague (10)
Title: Message FREEDOM ASSOCIATION SPECIAL BULLETIN No.10 May 22, 2002 THE MASSACRE IN RACAK FABRICATED As far as the cross-examination of the witnesses of The Hague Prosecution by Slobodan Milosevic goes on, it gets clearer that the alleged massacre of civilians was fabricated in order to serve to NATO aggressors as some kind of pretext to start the bombing of Yugoslavia. Yesterdays and today's testimony of the Canadian general Michel Maisoneuve, who was member of the OSCE Verification Mission and Head of the Prizren Regional Center, has shown that, too. From his testimony one could see that one of the key tasks of the Prosecution is to present Racak as a crime against civilians, in order to justify the NATO aggression. However, as much as the general tried to respond to the suggestive Prosecutor's questions and present the Racak events as a brutal crackdown of the Police with the locals, confronted with Milosevic's questions he seldom had to confess it was a conflict between the Police and the KLA terrorists. After all, the OSCE Mission itself confirmed that among the deads were KLA members as well. General Maisoneuve, for instance, on Milosevic's question could not deny that the Verification Mission made efforts to affirm the KLA as a legitimate side in the conflict, since he was the author of the mission document where this was explicitly specified and which Milosevic had quoted. Maisoneuve tried to present this as an attempt of the mission to establish trust. This way he also tried to justify the complaint raised by him and the mission as to why the investigation judge came to Racak the day after the event escorted by the Police. However, when asked if it meant that him and the mission are denying the sovereignty of Yugoslavia and Serbia on that part of their territory as well as the right of the legal authorities of the State to eliminate the terrorists who are violently struggling for secession, Maisoneuve had to confess that this would not be right and that he does not consider this was the task of the mission. Maisoneuve had to confess that in all of the occasions when OSCE Mission's verifiers were present, the Police behaved in a correct and professional way. In the OSCE reports, however, brutal crackdowns of Albanian civilians by the Serbian Police were mentioned, which was done according to the witness on the basis of testimonies of the Albanians. Maisoneuve had problems while explaining the allegations from the mission reports about Army tank and artillery attacks on Racak civilian homes from distance. On a direct question if there were any victims in Racak of these mortar attacks, the witness had to admit there were not, reducing his whole story on Army involvement to him being told by one of his verifiers that one tank had hit a house. He was also forced by Milosevic's cross-examination to deny that Army individuals have accused the Police for intervening in Racak. General Maisoneuve tried not to avoid answers to direct questions, so that Milosevic succeeded to make his answers more useful to the Defence than to the Prosecution. That is why judge May did his best to avoid such a situation. When asked by Milosevic if, after everything he found out so far about the Racak events he still personally considers there had been a massacre, May promptly intervened and explicitly prevented him from answering that question. A totally separate story are the Racak victims, for whom the OSCE mission chief William Walker affirmed they were civilian ones killed from a close range on the same spot, where the day after dead bodies were found. After the cross-examination of this witness, as well as of other ones before, it came out rather evident that these people perished in combat and were brought to one single spot in order to make it look as if they were executed. Milosevic has proved that serious fighting took place between the Police and the KLA forces, trenched around the village, and that the bodies were brought and grouped up after the Police and OSCE verifiers had withdrawn. This was evident from the position of the bodies, as well as from the findings of the forensic teams who examined them. After a series of usuccessful attempts to build-up a Walker's fabricated story about Racak through testimonies of witnesses, the prosecution attempted to bring one of its own investigators to appear as witness with special goal - to present to the court a "summary" of the events in Racak, based on written statements of "many witnesses" who did not appear, as well as on tons of "documents" collected by prosecution. After a sharp complaint by President Milosevic against the "indirect witnesses", the "trial chamber" decided not to accept testimony of the prosecution investigator Barney Kelly. This was considered by many as one of the greatest defets of the prosecution, since the begining of the "trial". To jo
[www.ANTIC.org] Freedom fight in the Hague (10)
FREEDOM ASSOCIATION SPECIAL BULLETIN No.10 May 22, 2002 THE MASSACRE IN RACAK FABRICATED As far as the cross-examination of the witnesses of The Hague Prosecution by Slobodan Milosevic goes on, it gets clearer that the alleged massacre of civilians was fabricated in order to serve to NATO aggressors as some kind of pretext to start the bombing of Yugoslavia. Yesterdays and today's testimony of the Canadian general Michel Maisoneuve, who was member of the OSCE Verification Mission and Head of the Prizren Regional Center, has shown that, too. From his testimony one could see that one of the key tasks of the Prosecution is to present Racak as a crime against civilians, in order to justify the NATO aggression. However, as much as the general tried to respond to the suggestive Prosecutor's questions and present the Racak events as a brutal crackdown of the Police with the locals, confronted with Milosevic's questions he seldom had to confess it was a conflict between the Police and the KLA terrorists. After all, the OSCE Mission itself confirmed that among the deads were KLA members as well. General Maisoneuve, for instance, on Milosevic's question could not deny that the Verification Mission made efforts to affirm the KLA as a legitimate side in the conflict, since he was the author of the mission document where this was explicitly specified and which Milosevic had quoted. Maisoneuve tried to present this as an attempt of the mission to establish trust. This way he also tried to justify the complaint raised by him and the mission as to why the investigation judge came to Racak the day after the event escorted by the Police. However, when asked if it meant that him and the mission are denying the sovereignty of Yugoslavia and Serbia on that part of their territory as well as the right of the legal authorities of the State to eliminate the terrorists who are violently struggling for secession, Maisoneuve had to confess that this would not be right and that he does not consider this was the task of the mission. Maisoneuve had to confess that in all of the occasions when OSCE Mission's verifiers were present, the Police behaved in a correct and professional way. In the OSCE reports, however, brutal crackdowns of Albanian civilians by the Serbian Police were mentioned, which was done according to the witness on the basis of testimonies of the Albanians. Maisoneuve had problems while explaining the allegations from the mission reports about Army tank and artillery attacks on Racak civilian homes from distance. On a direct question if there were any victims in Racak of these mortar attacks, the witness had to admit there were not, reducing his whole story on Army involvement to him being told by one of his verifiers that one tank had hit a house. He was also forced by Milosevic's cross-examination to deny that Army individuals have accused the Police for intervening in Racak. General Maisoneuve tried not to avoid answers to direct questions, so that Milosevic succeeded to make his answers more useful to the Defence than to the Prosecution. That is why judge May did his best to avoid such a situation. When asked by Milosevic if, after everything he found out so far about the Racak events he still personally considers there had been a massacre, May promptly intervened and explicitly prevented him from answering that question. A totally separate story are the Racak victims, for whom the OSCE mission chief William Walker affirmed they were civilian ones killed from a close range on the same spot, where the day after dead bodies were found. After the cross-examination of this witness, as well as of other ones before, it came out rather evident that these people perished in combat and were brought to one single spot in order to make it look as if they were executed. Milosevic has proved that serious fighting took place between the Police and the KLA forces, trenched around the village, and that the bodies were brought and grouped up after the Police and OSCE verifiers had withdrawn. This was evident from the position of the bodies, as well as from the findings of the forensic teams who examined them. After a series of usuccessful attempts to build-up a Walker's fabricated story about Racak through testimonies of witnesses, the prosecution attempted to bring one of its own investigators to appear as witness with special goal - to present to the court a "summary" of the events in Racak, based on written statements of "many witnesses" who did not appear, as well as on tons of "documents" collected by prosecution. After a sharp complaint by President Milosevic against the "indirect witnesses", the "trial chamber" decided not to accept testimony of the prosecution investigator Barney Kelly. This was considered by many as one of the greatest defets of the prosecution, since the begining of the "trial". To join or help this str
[www.ANTIC.org] JEWISH AREAS WERE THE ORIGINAL TARGET OF 1993 WTC BOMBERS
Title: Message ONE OF FBI MOST - WANTED TERRORISTS SAYS JEWISH AREAS WERE THE ORIGINAL TARGET OF 1993 WTC BOMBERS Fri May 31 2002 15:51:47 ETOne of the FBI’s most-wanted terrorists says that Brooklyn’s Jewish neighborhoods were the original targets of the men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in 1993. Abdul Rahman Yasin, in his first interview, says fellow bombers Ramzi Yousef and Mohammed Salameh decided instead to attack New York’s Twin Towers because they believed most of its occupants were Jewish. Yasin, who was indicted in the bombing but escaped, was interviewed by Lesley Stahl in an Iraqi installation near Baghdad last Thursday (23). Her report will be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, June 2 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. “[Yousef] told me, ‘I want to blow up Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn,’” Yasin tells Stahl. But after scouting Crown Heights and Williamsburg, Yasin says Yousef had a better idea. “Ramzi Yousef told us to go to the World trade Center… ‘I have an idea we should do one big explosion rather than do small ones in Jewish neighborhoods,’” Yasin says the terrorist said. They figured the World Trade Center would serve as a more efficient target. “The majority of people who work in the World Trade Center are Jews,” says Yasin. Yasin, 40, says he is sorry for what he did and that the bombers, who he says he met for the first time while living in a Jersey City apartment building, talked him into it. “[Yousef and Salameh] used to tell me how Arabs suffered a great deal and that we have to send a message that this is not right…to revenge for my Palestinian brothers and my brothers in Saudi Arabia,” Yasin tells Stahl. He adds that they also prodded him about being an Iraqi who should avenge the defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War. Yasin confirms that Yousef was the maker of the bomb used in the attack and that Yousef learned the process in a terrorist camp in Peshawar, Pakistan, before entering the U.S. “I knew that after …working with them.” 60 MINUTES has independently confirmed that the man interviewed is, indeed, Yasin, whose picture is on the FBI Web site along with Osama bin Laden, one of President Bush’s 22 most-wanted terrorists. The FBI is offering a $25 million reward for information leading to Yasin’s arrest. ENDhttp://www.drudgereport.com/flash2.htm
[www.ANTIC.org] India Set to Launch 'Small War'
Title: Message Published on Friday, May 31, 2002 in the Christian Science Monitor India Set to Launch 'Small War' by Scott Baldauf and V.K. Shashikumar NEW DELHI – India and Pakistan are edging closer and closer to war. Pakistan confirmed yesterday that it is moving troops away from the Afghan border, where they have been helping the US hunt for Al Qaeda fighters, due to the looming military threat on its eastern flank. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will head to the region next week to try to defuse tensions. Indian military sources say India has secretly told the US and Britain that it will wait two weeks to see if international diplomatic pressure halts infiltration of Islamic militants into Indian territory. "This could be easily verified by monitoring [radio and telephone] intercepts," says Ret. Major Gen. Ashok Mehta, an Indian military analyst. If infiltration does not significantly drop, a senior Army official says India plans a 10-day assault in Kashmir. "It will be like Kargil [the 1999 war between India and Pakistan]," says Mr. Mehta. "The military action will be predominantly infantry led and intensively supported by the Air Force." The short Indian military operation is designed to capture territory and destroy the infrastructure of Islamic militants quickly. The battle-field scenario, says a senior Indian military official, is premised on the calculation that it will operate under the nuclear threshold and that the international community will step in to prevent the conflict from escalating. Within the first 48 hours, India is expected to attack the Neelam Valley Road across the Kupwara sector in Indian-held Kashmir, says an Indian Air Force officer involved in the planning. The Indian Air Force will try to destroy an important bridge over the Jhelum River which connects Pakistan with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. But "Indian action will attract heavy Pakistani punishment," says General Mehta. In the Kargil conflict, the Indian government decided not to cross the 460-mileLine of Control that divides Indian-held Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This policy was to ensure that the "limited conflict" did not escalate into a full-fledged conventional war. The two nations have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. Two of the wars were over Kashmir. In the last two weeks Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has given bellicose speeches decrying Pakistani "cross-border terrorism" and calling on Indian soldiers to "prepare for sacrifices" in a "decisive fight." Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has responded by donning his general's uniform, testing short- and long-range ballistic missiles this past week, and vowing that any Indian attack would be met with a swift response. While few expect India and Pakistan to use their nuclear weapons against each other, the possibility of a bloody conventional war between two key allies in the US "war on terrorism" is shaking the international community. Indeed, some analysts say India is stealing a page from Israel's game plan to initiate their own "war on terrorists." Others see a classic brinksmanship strategy that India, in particular, is using to invite external pressure on its enemy. "The Indians are practicing a policy of 'compellance,' " says Stephen Cohen, a senior fellow in security issues at the Brookings Institution, reached at a conference in Tokyo. "They are threatening to use force to compel another country to alter its behavior. In this case, their target is both Pakistan and the US, and they are compelling the US to put pressure on Musharraf to rein in cross-border terrorism." It may be working. Numerous diplomats have visited the region since January, including US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca. This week, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw arrived with a proposal to beef up the 35-member UN monitoring force. According to Pakistan's UN ambassador Munir Akram, Mr. Straw said that a helicopter-borne force of 300 could "effectively monitor [the Line of Control and verify] whether the Indian charges are right or not." Next week, Richard Armitage, a deputy Secretary of State, will also arrive in Islamabad to impress on Mr. Musharraf America's concerns in the region. The leverage of the Western powers is significant. The US could withdraw further economic support, thus sending Pakistan's rebounding economy back int
[www.ANTIC.org] Does John Malkovich Own a Gun?
Title: Message Media Mash: From Moore to Malkovich The Masher, AlterNetMay 30, 2002 Does John Malkovich Own a Gun? Robert Fisk, one of England's premier reporters, and a most thoughtful and graceful writer on the trials and tribulations of the Middle East crisis, has had his share of hate mail. It used to come in the form of letters -- some signed with addresses included; others anonymous and practically illegible. But Fisk and other writers are experiencing a whole new level of frightening communications, particularly on the Internet. And the hate mongering, which often includes death threats, reached its public apex earlier this month, when movie star John Malkovich told the Cambridge Union that he would like to shoot Fisk. The Internet seems to have become -- for those who don't want to hear the truth about the Middle East -- a "community of haters," aiming venomous letters at any reporter, such as Fisk, who dares to criticize Israeli or U.S. policy. Fisk writes: "Slowly but surely, the hate has turned to incitement, the incitement into death threats, the walls of propriety and legality gradually pulled down so that a reporter can be abused, his family defamed, his beatings at the hands of an angry crowd greeted with laughter and insults on the pages of an American paper, his life cheapened and made vulnerable by an actor who -- without saying why -- says he wants to kill me." We live in frightening times, and the double dose of 9/11 -- the bombing and the pursuit of terrorists and the ongoing violence in the Middle East -- is sending some people around the bend. We have to protect our liberties, and we also may need to physically protect our journalists and truth seekers, or we'll be in very deep shit. Michael Moore Conquers Cannes What an unlikely scene. The Left's answer to Rush Limbaugh: rumpled, hyper-unstylish author and filmmaker Michael Moore amidst the glitterati and the fashionistas of France and movie stars from all over the world at Cannes? Truly, there is no stopping Moore. There's the astounding success of his book, "Stupid White Men," which has been sitting at number one on the NY Times bestseller list (and virtually every other top ten list across the country) for months. Now comes another creative in-your-face effort: Bowling in Columbine. Moore says that he set out to answer the following question: "Are we a country of gun nuts, or just nuts?" The film, the first documentary entered in competition at Cannes in 46 years, was well-received by the audiences. It explicitly links what Moore calls the "paranoid mentality of Americans who love guns to the violent nature of post-war US foreign policy." According to Guardian of London's Stuart Jeffries, at the beginning of the film, Moore opens a bank account and receives a free gun. He reveals how the bullets used to kill 12 students and a teacher at Columbine were bought for 17 cents from a Wal-Mart supermarket. Moore then encourages two teenage boys who still have bullets lodged in their spines to return bullets to the chainstore. After meeting them, Wal-Mart later announced that it would no longer sell such guns and bullets. Moore's analysis is that the US is gun-crazy because the country was born out of fear of outsiders, a fear that continues to influence foreign policy. It goes like this: The pilgrims come to the U.S. to escape, and they encounter the Native Americans. The pilgrims kill the Indians, but they become afraid of each other. They start accusing women of being witches and burn them. They win the revolution, but they are afraid the Brits are coming back. So someone writes the Second Amendment that says: Let's keep our guns because the Brits are coming back. Fast forward: From the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, the number of slaves grew from 7000,000 to 4 million. In parts of the South, blacks outnumbered whites by three to one, and there were a lot of slave rebellions. So in 1863 Samuel Colt invented the six-shooter -- and the rest, as they say, is history. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13260 a_tiny.gif Description: GIF image
[www.ANTIC.org] Karadzic's wife asked to quit Red Cross post
Title: Message Karadzic’s wife asked to quit Red Cross post Daria Sito-Sucic in SARAJEVO THE wife of the war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic should step down as head of the Bosnian Serb Red Cross because her presence there reduces donor support, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday. An ICRC official said international donors were reluctant to pledge more funds to the Red Cross in Bosnia’s Serb republic as long as Ljiljana Zelen-Karadzic remained at the helm. "Her presence creates problems because she is connected to a person who is indicted for war crimes," Gianni Volpin, director of communications at the Geneva-based organisation’s Bosnian office, said. He did not criticise her work in running the Red Cross in the Serb Republic, one of post-war Bosnia’s two autonomous entities, but said it had an image problem because of her. The United Nations war crimes court in The Hague has twice indicted Karadzic of genocide for allegedly masterminding the mass killing of Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the 1992-95 war. His wife showed no signs of heeding the ICRC’s call, accusing it of interference. "If the ICRC has changed principles and taken on a political role defining family responsibility in suspicions of committing war crimes I expect your superiors to officially inform me of these new principles," she wrote in an open letter published in her home town of Pale this week. http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=587942002 pxl.gif Description: GIF image
[www.ANTIC.org] Hanan Ashrawi: 'I come from here'
Title: Message 'I come from here'Hanan Ashrawi spoke to Aziza Sami of the Palestinian people today: besieged, yet self-critical, and ready for change The Palestinian political agenda was particularly charged when I spoke to Hanan Ashrawi. Israel had not totally lifted its siege of the West Bank and Gaza. Just a few weeks ago, during the commemoration of the 54th anniversary of the Nakba (the creation of the state of Israel), Palestinian Authority (PA) President Yasser Arafat pledged to reform the authority. Long-postponed legislative elections were to be fast-tracked. In the meantime, the US and Israel were pushing their own version of PA reforms. These centred on security matters and the Palestinian leadership, possibly with a view to replacing Yasser Arafat. Would the embattled Palestinian leader be forced to mediate -- to engage in a balancing act, as has sometimes happened previously -- between the Palestinians' vision and the agenda suggested by the US and Israel? Hanan Ashrawi had just emerged from a meeting that was called on the spur of the moment and had delayed our scheduled telephone interview by an hour. The atmosphere in Ramallah was tense, but she was as congenial as always. She had been participating in a press conference held by fellow Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) members to express solidarity with another deputy, and leading member of the Fatah movement Marwan Barghouti, who was captured by Israel during its reinvasion of the West Bank. Click to view caption 'It is good for the Arab public to be made aware, to have free open media and interact in the ongoing dialogue. But we speak to ourselves always. We have yet to address the world with a discourse that is rooted in self-respect, not defensiveness' Despite the blizzard of demands on her time, Ashrawi was ready to elaborate on her thoughts. Speaking on whether Arafat might be forced to balance the hopes of Palestinians with the demands of the US and Israel, she said, "The situation could lead to this happening. But, in the end, President Arafat's legitimacy comes from his people. The 'home-grown' approach to reform has been ongoing, ever since 1994. However, [The reforms being pursued] are not part of an American agenda dealing with security issues. Israel and the US couldn't care less about Palestinian democracy. It is just something new being used by them as a political tool, each for their own ends." Ashrawi first came to world attention as spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation at the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference. Appointed minister of higher education and research in 1996, she resigned from the cabinet two years later. She remains critical of the PA concerning the need for democratic and institutional reform and transparency. As PLC deputy for East Jerusalem who ran as an independent, she adopted an autonomous stance while continuing to support Arafat as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Ashrawi's stance is as relevant now as ever, as Palestinians continue to criticise Arafat for failing to have pushed harder to ensure that a UN fact-finding committee was allowed to visit the Jenin refugee camp to investigate war crimes by Israel and later for agreeing to the deportation of 13 Palestinians. Does Ashrawi think that Arafat is losing ground over contentions related to the Jenin and Bethlehem deals? "These [deals] cost him a great deal in terms of public support. When he was besieged, people rallied around him. But when these agreements were concluded to resolve the crisis, it affected him directly." The reason? "The deals were inconsistent with international law and [the upholding of] Palestinian rights. Now, Arafat has the key, which is to respond to the people on the agenda for reform. He needs to regain the initiative and we need to put our house in order." It is unclear exactly when elections will be held and Arafat, by making the contests contingent on Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank, has contributed to this ambiguity. Some think that the Palestinian leader is procrastinating. He has been accused, even internally, of being reluctant to relinquish authority. Ashrawi, though, thinks that he is following the will of the people. "These [conditions] are also the demands of civil society and the Palestinian public in general", she said. "The major obstacle preventing the Palestinians from exercising their democratic rights is the occupation." The comprehensive reform agenda formulated by the PLC responds to demands by people from across the Palestinian political spectrum. In the run-up to elections, the PLC has called for the cabinet to play the role of a "caretaker." A new cabinet, according to the PLC reform programme, sho
[www.ANTIC.org] 'Where is Jamal's body?'
Title: Message 'Where is Jamal's body?'After committing horrific war crimes at Jenin refugee camp, Israel is now obstructing help from reaching its residents. Jonathan Cook visited the camp all too soon forgotten by the world The hands scratching frantically at the grey dust were searching for a body under the rubble. A skull found moments earlier at the same spot brought hope to the crowd of onlookers that another victim of Israel's 10-day invasion of Jenin refugee camp in early April was about to be identified. Watching intently were the brothers of Jamal Fayid, a mentally and physically handicapped man of 37 who died on 9 April when Israeli army bulldozers demolished the family house before Jamal could be evacuated. His body has been missing for seven weeks. But the handful of bones pulled from the lunar landscape of destruction at the centre of Jenin refugee camp last Saturday were unlikely to be Jamal's. The site was several hundred metres from where he is known to have died. The mystery of Jamal's death continues to haunt his family, drawing his father and brothers each day to a house overlooking the spot where the family home once stood. Hanging on the outside wall beneath the room where they meet is Jamal's crumpled wheelchair. It is both a memorial to Jamal and a reminder to visitors that the family's search for him is not yet ended. "We are very suspicious about what happened to Jamal's body," said his brother Khaled Rasheed, a 45-year-old art teacher. "We found the wheelchair and his belongings, even the supply of nappies he needed, but where is his body?" The family fear that the Israeli army removed the body to hide evidence of what they believe was a war crime. "After we were made to leave the house, we pleaded with the soldiers to let us bring Jamal out but they refused," said Rasheed. "They knew he was still in there but they brought in the bulldozers anyway." In the conflicting accounts of the death toll in Jenin it is unclear whether Jamal is listed as one of the camp's missing or among the official dead. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides services to Palestinian refugees, says there is continuing confusion because some non-refugees not registered with the agency were living there. It cites a figure of 54 dead and two missing but admits the figures are provisional: a dozen or so men believed missing may be under the rubble, in Israeli jails or in hiding. The Fayid family's anger at the army's killing of Jamal is only equalled by their despair at the failure of the international community to organise a proper search for his body. "It has been left to us and our friends to pick through the rubble," said Jamal's father, Mahmoud Fayid, 70. "Where are the search and rescue teams that turn up to every disaster in the rest of the world?" The view voiced by many of the camp's inhabitants is that they are quickly being forgotten by a world that has decided, based on scant evidence and on obscure numerical principles, that there was no massacre committed in the camp. The impression that they have been abandoned is hard to dispute: after Israel's refusal to allow a UN fact-finding mission to Jenin, the journalists and human rights workers have drifted away. Last Saturday only a Swedish team of volunteers delivering desalinated water to the camp's hospital were to be seen at work. Otherwise, the huge mounds of rubble separated by grey, dusty expanses cleared as "streets" are deserted apart from residents who refuse to leave the ruined heart of the camp. Many are still scavenging for whatever remains of their former life. Fahimi Ali Abi Jabar, 72, was crouched over scraps of material from dresses and pillowcases she had recovered from the rubble that was once her home. "I have washed them all. This," she said, caressing a length of grey, silky cloth, "is from a beautiful dress I wore when I was younger." Some inhabitants have set up tents amid the rubble. Others live in their crumbling, cinderblock homes on the edge of the razed area, walls and ceilings propped up by unimpressive wooden scaffolding provided by the UN. Written on the planks in English and Arabic is the warning "Falling objects." About the only good news for the 14,000 camp residents is a donation from the United Arab Emirates of $35 million that is being channelled through UNRWA. That money at least means that the 800 or so families that lost everything have rent to pay for rooms in undamaged parts of the camp or in Jenin town for the next six months. Amel Abdel-Hamid, 44, is among those benefiting from the handouts. She lost her home in the camp twice: once in December last year when the Israeli army set fire to her house days after her 20-year-old son Mustafa Abu Sarri
[www.ANTIC.org] Diplomacy and the desert
Title: Message Diplomacy and the desertDiplomats scurry to the region seeking peace. But unless they challenge Israeli policy they will find only desolation, writes Graham Usher from Jerusalem Israel and the occupied territories are about to shore a tide of diplomacy. In the coming days German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the European Union's Javier Solana, US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and CIA Chief George Tenet are due to visit the region. Their aim is to further movement towards some kind of regional peace conference in the summer. The touted means are a "meaningful cease-fire" as a prelude to political negotiations and "reform" within the Palestinian Authority, principally the unification of its 12 security forces under one central command. The view of most Palestinians is that diplomacy alone will achieve neither. Since Sunday the Israeli army has invaded Qalqilya, Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Jenin, Hebron and several West Bank and Gaza villages in incursions aimed at mopping up residues left from April's full-scale re-conquests of Palestinian areas and consolidating Israel's military rule throughout the occupied territories. Four Palestinian civilians were killed in the raids, including, on Sunday, a woman and her 12-year-old niece shot dead by an army patrol while tilling their land near Gaza's eastern border with Israel. Dozens were arrested, swelling the number of Palestinian prisoners now in Israeli jails to over 2,000. Some 1,200 of these are kept in Israel's Ofer military base near Ramallah and -- according to Amnesty International -- are subject to "severe physical abuse... including torture". Five hundred are in the re-opened Ansar camp in the Negev Desert, including 300 administrative detainees, the highest count since the 1987-1993 Intifada. In a resistance more visceral than calculating, Palestinians fought back. On Monday a Palestinian suicide bomber killed a woman and 18-month old baby outside a café in Petah Tikva. The bomber was 18-year-old Jihad Titi, cousin of Mahmoud Titi, a militant in Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades assassinated by Israeli tank fire in a Nablus cemetery last week. On Tuesday Fatah guerrillas killed four Jewish settlers, including three Yeshiva students about to go into the Israeli army from the Itamar settlement near Nablus. Fatah sources say this may mark a turn away from suicide operations inside Israel to attacks on soldiers and settlers inside the occupied territories. Palestinians, generally, back both types of response, though polls show greater enthusiasm for confining the resistance to targets in the West Bank and Gaza. The same polls show majority Palestinian support for the Saudi/ Arab peace initiative, a desire to seek "reconciliation" with Israel and Israelis once an independent Palestinian state is established and massive support for effecting "fundamental changes" in how their Authority is run, with most wanting elections sooner rather than later. This paradox in Palestinian attitudes reflects the contradictions of their existence, between the pale beacons of "peace" lit by the diplomats and the dark wash of Israel's deepening occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. This now consists of a new regimen in which the West Bank is divided into eight isolated cantons and Gaza into two. To travel to the cities and villages within them Palestinians require passes from a revamped Israeli Civil Administration that resembles nothing so much as the "homeland" system established in apartheid South Africa. To trade, goods must be unloaded and reloaded "back-to-back" on lorries at eight Erez-like crossings at entrances to the cantons, at a huge hike in time and cost for an economy that can afford neither. The result -- say World Bank analysts -- is a society where one in two Palestinians live below the poverty line and an economy that may soon be reduced to barter and is already dependent on permanent injections of humanitarian aid. The reason, say the Israelis, is that such measures are necessary to secure their citizens, 30 of whom have been killed since the new order was set up. But the truth -- quietly acknowledged by all -- is that such a regime is required to enable the incursions into the Palestinian areas and allow the settlements to grow, unmolested, beyond the 42 per cent of West Bank land already colonised, according to a recent study by the Israeli human rights organization, Btselem. As long as this reality prevails Palestinians know talk of "cease-fire", "reform" and "negotiations" will remain castles in the sky and Palestinian resistance -- suicidal and otherwise -- will have a mass following. As for the diplomats, they will be condemned to face the charge leveled by the ancient Roman historian, of "making a desert which t
[www.ANTIC.org] The New Zionists in Their Fancy Jeeps
Title: Message The New Zionists in Their Fancy Jeeps By Nehemia StraslerHa’aretz JERUSALEM, May 30, 2002 -- In the midst of a wave of terror attacks, war in the territories, political crisis with Shas, and the emergency economic program, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon found time to order another 6,000 Thai workers to be brought to Israel - for the farms. But what about the building industry? For years contractors have been claiming they are in desperate need of another 10,000 workers, a shortage holding up construction and development. So why have only the farmers been granted this boon? Is it because Sharon's family owns an agricultural farm which employs Thai workers? Finance Minister Silvan Shalom toured part of the Trans-Israel Highway this week and saw foreign workers building the road. He immediately voiced his complaint: "It is inconceivable that while there are 250,000 unemployed Israelis, so many foreign workers are employed building this road." Uri Savyon, managing director of the Derekh Eretz company constructing the road, was quick to explain that there are also many Israelis employed in its construction work. But Savyon need not have apologized. Instead, he should have sent Shalom to Sharon - and let him explain. Bringing another 6,000 Thai workers to Israel now completely contradicts all government programs since it has stated that its goal is to lower unemployment. Even the new economic program includes an entire chapter on ways of to encouraging employment, by making life more difficult for the unemployed and recipients of income supplement benefits. But what good will this program do if the prime minister makes sure that Israelis' work places are taken over by Thai workers? It is absolutely absurd that out of 250,000 unemployed Israelis, 6,000 agricultural workers and 10,000 construction workers cannot be found. It is outrageous that the government should have to keep paying out unemployment allowances, teaching people to live at the public's expense when there are many vacant positions to be filled. Shlomo Benizri, until recently the Labor and Social Affairs Minister, dared to speak the truth when he stated that many Israelis will do anything to stay on the dole instead of going out to work, and that the state enables them to do so. He demanded that the farmers employ Israelis and not foreign workers. Indeed, employing Israelis would cost them more, force them to improve work conditions, and even bring about a rise in the price of fruit and vegetables in the markets - but this is the price we all must pay to avoid becoming a sick society. Instead, Sharon and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon are inventing a new Zionism for us. This time the Jews will be the kulaks - the landlords who own the farms and drive around in fancy, air-conditioned jeeps handing out orders to the vassals, the foreign workers, all with the aim of making a maximum profit with a minimum amount of Israeli labor. If that is not enough, Israel can now boast a new international invention - the flying casino. According to the new plan, Israel Aircrafts Industries will convert a Boeing 747 into a casino. The aircraft will take off on a flight to nowhere and once it is outside Israeli airspace - the gambling will begin. Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh gave the green light for the flying casino's take-offs and landings. As far as he's concerned, it would also be okay for casinos to be set up in development towns to promote and develop them. Sneh is thus offering competition to Sharon's Zionism - one builds Israel's agriculture on foreign labor, the other build the economy on gambling, not on industry or productivity mind you. No - build it on casinos, accompanied by their usual host of social illnesses of crime, black marketeering, extortion, loss of property, and even loss of life. Even in Turkey the government went the opposite way to change the country's image - and closed all the casinos. The Zionist-socialist revolution of Israel's founding fathers believed in "reversing the pyramid" as Ber Borochov put it - turning diaspora Jews who lived off luft gesheft (air business) into a proud people living off their own labor. Now, Sharon and Sneh want an economy based on foreign work and gambling, for the glory of the new Zionism. © Ha’aretz, 2002. Distributed in partnership with Globalvision News Network (www.gvnews.net). All rights reserved.
[www.ANTIC.org] Israeli Forces Move into Nablus
Title: Message Israeli Forces Move into Nablus By Pepe EscobarAlbawaba.com JERUSALEM, May 31, 2002 -- Israeli forces moved into the West Bank city of Nablus early Friday, just as world diplomats began talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat about reforming his regime. Palestinian officials said Thursday that Arafat had signed a comprehensive law package sitting on his desk for five years, a framework for a constitution granting basic rights to his people and regulating his regime. The Israeli troops entered Nablus in about 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers, Palestinians said, heading for two Palestinian refugee camps, Balata and Askar. The forces surrounded the Balata camp, headquarters of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade group. It was reported that the Israeli soldiers were going from house to house in the Balata camp by breaking through connecting walls. The suicide bomber who killed an 18-month-old baby and her grandmother in the Israeli city of Petah Tikva on Monday was a resident of Balata. The group also claimed the killing of three teenagers at a Jewish settlement on Wednesday. The attacker was identified as Habash Hanani, 16. Israeli military sources, according to AP, confirmed that an operation in Nablus was underway. Israeli forces cut electricity to Nablus before launching the raid, residents said. The echo of gunshots rang through the city as troops fanned into several outlying areas. Residents said Palestinians set off two mines under Israeli tanks, and the tanks fired five shells, knocking out electricity in the eastern part of Nablus. Also, they said, a convoy of seven Israeli jeeps and an ambulance entered a neighborhood in the western part of the city, apparently planning to arrest a suspected activist. A Palestinian man was killed Friday morning near the settlment of Shavei Shomron in the West Bank, after trying to infiltrate it. The Palestinian cut through the fence when a resident of the settlement saw him and opened fire, killing the infiltrator. In Qalqilyah, Israeli soldiers carried out searches for wanted Palestinians. Two buildings and four vehicles were destroyed. Late Thursday, Israeli forces pulled out of the West Bank town of Bethlehem after holding it in a tight grip for four days. In a statement confirming the pullout, the Israeli military said 42 Palestinians were detained. Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer met Arafat Thursday, and Osama el-Baz, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's political adviser, was due for talks Friday. Over the weekend, CIA Director George Tenet is to begin a mission aimed at restructuring the myriad and competing Palestinian security services. After meeting Fischer, Arafat said "we have already started" the reform process, noting that he had signed the Basic Law and others governing the judiciary and banking systems. © Albawaba.com, 2002. Distributed in partnership with Globalvision News Network (www.gvnews.net). All rights reserved.
[www.ANTIC.org] Arafat's Reforms a 'Waste Of Time'
Title: Message Arafat's Reforms a 'Waste Of Time' By Herb KeinonJerusalem Post JERUSALEM, May 31, 2002 -- Israel is unwilling to take any more chances with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, and attempts to build reform in the PA around Arafat are a waste of time, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will tell US envoy William Burns today, according to a senior diplomatic official. Burns, the assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs, arrived yesterday from Cairo and met with Arafat in Ramallah last night. He is to meet with Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres today, and with representatives of the other members of the Quartet the EU, UN, and Russia tomorrow. Sharon, according to the diplomatic official, will tell Burns and CIA Director George Tenet, who is to arrive early next week, that for any diplomatic process to take place Palestinian terror and incitement must end, accompanied by true security, governmental, and financial reform inside the PA. Sharon is also to meet today with Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. The diplomatic official acknowledged that the US is under intensive Arab pressure to provide a time line for diplomatic negotiations, in order to give the Palestinians the "political horizon" they claim is needed to end the violence. But Sharon has already laid out his own "political horizon" in terms of long-term interim agreements that could culminate in a Palestinian state, albeit on much less territory than what was offered by Ehud Barak, the official said. Referring to the meeting of international leaders with Arafat, the official said that all meetings with Arafat are counterproductive, because they are likely to be interpreted on the Palestinian street as signs that he still has international standing. "His position among the Palestinians is difficult," the official said. "But real challengers will only emerge if he is seen as weak." The Burns and Tenet visits come as US officials are increasingly saying it is unlikely an international conference will be convened at the beginning of the summer, as US Secretary of State Colin Powell said earlier this month. One US official said yesterday that the conference will not be held until an agenda is set, and in order for an agenda to be set the US will have to pressure Sharon, something US President George W. Bush is hesitant to do prior to the US midterm elections in November. The US official said that, although the administration would likely prefer pushing the conference off until after the elections, this may be difficult because of Powell's earlier comments that it will be held in the summer. Among those who are pushing for a firm time line are Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is scheduled to go to Washington next week for a meeting with Bush. As has happened prior to Mubarak's visits to Washington in the past, he dispatched to Israel his political adviser, Osama el-Baz. Baz is to meet with Sharon today. Although Israeli officials are saying the Baz visit is "significant," because high-level dialogue between the two countries at this time is important, they also said yesterday that it is an attempt by Mubarak to improve the atmosphere with Israel before his trip to the US. One senior official in the Prime Minister's Office said that when Mubarak goes to Washington, he often hears criticism about anti-Semitic articles in the Egyptian press and the cool ties with Israel. Sending Baz to Jerusalem, he said, is a way for him to deflect the criticism, and to show that there are high-level talks between the two countries. "He is trying to create a different image," the official said. "He is trying to show that he plays a positive regional role and does not boycott Israel or Sharon." Meanwhile, Minister-without-Portfolio Dan Naveh, who has traveled to Egypt on a number of occasions trying to win the release of Azzam Azzam, an Israeli Druse who was convicted of espionage in September 1997, is to meet with Baz this morning and is expected to bring up Azzam's plight. © Jerusalem Post, 2002. Distributed in partnership with Globalvision News Network (www.gvnews.net). All rights reserved.
[www.ANTIC.org] News, 31.5.2002, 16:00 UTC
Deutsche Welle English Service News May 31st 2002, 16:00 UTC -- Today's highlight on DW-WORLD: Senegal Upsets France in Inaugural Match France's former colony beat the defending world champion 1-0 in a sensational start to the historic World Cup in South Korea and Japan. To read this article on the DW-WORLD website, just click on the internet address below: http://dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1451_A_566081_1_A,00.html -- Leave India - USA, Britain and Germany Advise Citizens The USA and Britain - and now Germany - have advised their citizens in India to leave the region because of raised tensions over Kashmir between the nuclear rivals India and Pakistan. The warnings apply to 60,000 U.S. citizens and some 20,000 Britons. The USA said "tensions had risen to serious levels". British foreign minister Jack Straw said war was "not inevitable", but Britons should consider leaving. Diplomatic staff were being scaled down. Likewise, the German Foreign Office said German citizens and family members of diplomats in India should consider departure. U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visits the region next week. India said its prime minister would attend a summit of 16 Asian nations next week, but Atal Behari Vajpayee would not meet Pakistan's leader Pervez Musharraf. Latest border clashes have reportedly left one more person dead on each side and several injured. Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes the situation was "stable", apart from artillery duells. Israel Raids Nablus - Fischer Winds up Talks Israeli forces have raided the West Bank city Nablus and its Balata refugee camp as German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer winds up a visit aimed at initiating an international peace conference. In Tel Aviv, Fischer was due to meet his EU colleague, Javier Solana, before flying on to Egypt. After talks with Israeli leaders, Fischer today met Palestinian politicians in Ramallah. Germany was willing to assist in a democratisation of Palestinian institutions, he said. Witnesses in the Nablus area said Israeli forces searched homes and detained 100 men, including a Fatah leader, Issam Abu Bark. A curfew had been imposed. The army said it was responding to recent suicide bombings. U.S. assistant secretary of state William Burns has had separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Algeria's Ruling Parties Returned In Algeria the ruling FLN party of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been declared the winner after Thursday's parliamentary election that was marred by a turnout of only 48 percent and opposition boycotts. The interior ministry said the military-backed FLN won 199 of parliament's 389 seats. The coalition RND party of former president Liamine Zeroual came second with 48 seats, sharply down from 156. Thursday's poll was largely boycotted in the Kabylie region populated by ethnic Berbers. Interior Minister Noureddine Zerhouni said one protestor was killed as Berber militants and security forces clashed on polling day in Tizi Ouzou, a Kabylie city. 110 other people were hurt. Foreign diplomats and analysts say many Algerians remote from a ruling elite are disillusioned by poverty and high unemployment. U.N. Warns of Refugee Disaster in Congo-Brazzaville International aid agencies say tens of thousands of refugees in Congo-Brazzaville urgently need help. A United Nations spokesman said they've fled to forests and little villages from continuing fighting in the Pool region and are destitute. Government troops supported by Angola have for weeks been fighting big battles with opposition Ninja militias. The UN co-ordinator for humanitarian matters in Brazzaville, William Paton, says most of the refugees are in areas inaccessible so far because of security concerns. In New York the UN emergency relief co-ordinator, Kenzo Oshima, called on the conflicting parties to assure safe passage to the sufferers. Germany's FDP Regrets Moellemann's Remarks Germany's opposition FDP has distanced itself from alleged anti- Semitic remarks made by its deputy leader Juergen Moellemann but Jewish leaders in Germany says they still want a direct apology. Just back from a trip to Israel, FDP leader Guido Westerwelle issued a declaration adopted unanimously by his executive, expressing regret and disapproval of Moellemann's remarks. They had been erroneous and misunderstood, the party said, and Mollemann had since retracted them. Michel Friedman, the vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, who'd been the target of the remarks, today also reiterated a council demand that Moellemann's FDP parliamentary group in the Duesseldorf reg
[www.ANTIC.org] Novine - Info... Canadian Serbian Chamber of Commerce
KONKURS The Canadian Serbian Chamber of Commerce (CSCC) based in Toronto, Ontario is looking for the following full time (or contract basis) position. Business Manager - This competent, experienced professional will be an employee tasked with dealing with private industry and government institutions. Specific duties include many services that allow the organization to operate efficiently, such as: oversee the preparation, analysis, negotiation, and review of strategic information, supervising the creation of an automated database, records management, conference planning and travel, business correspondence, supervising daily operations, assisting in planning annual budgets and preparing financial reports, overseeing initiation and monitoring of the organization's support agreements; assisting in administering grants and agreements in accordance with organization's policies and requirements regarding records, monthly reports, controls, and conditions of allocated funds; performing other duties as assigned. Strategic business planning will help ensure a sustainable business and enduring of our non-profit institution. Requires a Bachelor's Degree and at least six years of management and budget experience. Must have working knowledge of existing business procedures and strong computer skills including MS Excel, MS Word and PowerPoint. Experience with private sector is preferred. Essential Functions: . Prepares departmental budget, both operating and capital, and monitors all budgetary expenditure activities. . Oversees the administration and coordination of all financial functions in the organization including grant writing, monitoring and reporting. Monitoring internal controls for cash receipts. . Conducts revenue assessments and prepares supporting documentation for service charges and user's membership fees. . Ensures compliance with general accepted business principals as well as organization's and government policies and procedures. . Reviews contracts for business/financial accuracy and encumbered funds. . Performs internal audits to insure accountability and serving as a liaison to the Board of Directors. . Oversees the business analyst function for the organization and provides guidance in terms of business strategies of future organization endeavors. . Oversees the administration and coordination of the organization's performance measurement and operating standards. . Pursues innovative, entrepreneurial strategies to improve services for delivery of essential services, and conducts organizational development activities. . Must posses excellent oral and writing communication skills in English and preferably Serbian, independent analytical and evaluative judgment. . Must be able to interpret organization policies, procedures, prepare reports and correspondence for external contacts, government agencies, community groups, and other interested parties. Fax resume: 416/620-7705 until June 15. 2002 "Nezavisne NOVINE" Toronto, Canada www.nezavisnenovine.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 416/ 466-0888 Fax: 416/ 466-1921 Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
[www.ANTIC.org] Mntoday, 31.05.2002.
DJUKANOVIC DENIED THE ACCUSATIONS FROM BARI: UNGROUNDED CLAIMS INTENDED TO DISCREDIT MONTENEGRO Podgorica - In an interview for the Italian TV network Mediaset, Montenegro's President Milo Djukanovic denied the accusations regarding his alleged collusion in the international smuggling of cigarettes. He said that such information represented a continuous destructive attack from the part of some Italian officials and media. Djukanovic refuted the accusations of the Italian prosecutors as being ungrounded and arbitrary. He has also challenged the prosecutor from Bari (italy), Giuseppe Scelsi, to present any proof that might serve as a basis for legal responsibility of himself and his aids. This latest accusation, as well as all the previous ones, was intended to discredit Montenegro, headed towards its economic and political prosperity - Djukanovic said. He said that in Montenegro everything had been done in order to stop the smuggling of cigarettes between Italy and Montenegro. Furthermore, Montenegro "had performed an unusual act by allowing the Italian department of the Interpol to establish their office in Bar (Montenegro) in order to fight together the crime between the two countries` borders". REACTIONS FROM PODGORICA ON THE ACCUSATIONS FROM BARI ITALIAN AUTHORITIES REMAIN SILENT Podgorica - Montenegro's Foreign Ministry (MIP) made an official request to Italian authorities demanding "full information" about the alleged probe into President Milo Djukanovic. Officials from MIP stated that "the information about the action of the Prosecutor's office in Bari has come as a surprise". Neither has Montenegro's Ministry of Justice received any formal communication from Italian magistrates concerning the investigation against Djukanovic. An aide to the Minister of Justice, Vesna Ratkovic, said to the press that she had been trying several times to reach the prosecutor Scelsi, but "there was no answer". Montenegro's state prosecutor Bozidar Vukcevic also said that he had not received any criminal charges or any official information about the case. MONTENEGRO'S REPRESENTATIVE IN ITALY LJUBISA PEROVIC: NO CONFIRMATION ABOUT BRINGING CHARGES Podgorica - Montenegro's representative in Italy Ljubisa Perovic said that Italian authorities had not officially confirmed the information about bringing charges against Montenegro's President Milo Djukanovic. Perovic said that the information gained a huge publicity with Italian media, in a manner that "demonizes Montenegro and its President to an absolutely unacceptable extent". In these recent years all the guilt has been laid against Montenegro in an incredibly exaggerated manner - Perovic said. ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: ITALY APPRECIATES MONTENEGRIN GOVERNMENT'S POSITIVE ROLE Podgorica - Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a yesterday's announcement that it had a good relationship with Montenegro and it appreciated the positive role of Montenegrin Government in trying to reform the Yugoslav federation - quote Podgorica media. As for its relationship with Montenegro, Italy has always acted according to the diplomacy codes adopted within the European Union (EU), and it will continue to do so - the announcement says. THE DPS VICE-PRESIDENT SVETOZAR MAROVIC: WE NEED A STABLE GOVERNMENT Podgorica - The most important thing for Montenegro in this moment is to have a stable Government, which would be open for everyone who wishes to help Montenegro's progress - said the vise-president of Montenegro's ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Svetozar Marovic, in his interview for Podgorica "Vijesti". We need a stable, reform, pro-European, democratic Government that would act in the interest of its citizens - Marovic said. The new Government will guarantee the implementation of the Belgrade Agreement, quickening of the reform processes and democratization, and it should be represented by efficient people, who would work on the realization of the program - Marovic said. He also mentioned that recent Government also had made some steps in that direction. In Montenegrin DJUKANOVIC DEMANTOVAO OPTUZBE IZ BARIJA: NEOSNOVANE TVRDNJE SRACUNATE DA DEZAVUISU CRNU GORU Podgorica - Crnogorski predsjednik Milo Djukanovic u intervjuu italijanskoj TV mrezi Medijaset demantovao je optuzbe da je ucestvovao u medjunarodnom svercu cigaretama, isticuci da takve informacije pedstavljaju kontinuitet destrukcije pokrenute od strane nekih italijanskih zvanicnika i medija. Optuzbe italijanskih sudija, Djukanovic je odbacio kao neosnovane i proizvoljne i uputio je poziv drzavnom tuziocu iz Barija da iznese svaku cinjenicu koja bi mogla posluziti kao osnov za pravnu odgovornost njega i njegovih saradnika. I ova najnovija optuzba, kao i prethodne, sracunata je da dezavuisu Crnu Goru na putu njenog politickog i ekonomskog prosperiteta - ocijenio je Djukanovic. Djukanovic je rekao da je u Crnoj Gori uradjeno sve kako bi se zaustavio sverc cigareta izmedju Italije i Cr
[www.ANTIC.org] Ex [?]-Nazi Waldheim foreign relations prize From Saloniki & Kozara to Beirut
Waldheim was invited speaker Young President's Organization, 10-27 September 1997 YPO [Young Presidents Organization] In plenary session Kurt Waldheim (father changed the family name from Vaclavek) several times expressed his concern with human rights in the Balkans, naming Yugoslavia, and a few times mentioning the Serbs in particular. He applauded the 1995 US bombings of the Serbs to bring them to the negotiating table. I asked Waldheim-Vaclavek to tell about his human rights work in the Balkans from 1941 to 1945, especially regarding in role in the round-up and extermination of the Jews of Thessalonica and Serbs at Mount Kozara.? Saloniki: I was absent... Studying law and all that. Kozara: Oh, this was one of those unfortunate things. There were battles between the Croatian Ustashe and Serbian forces, the Chetniks and the Partisans. But the Chetniks were hundreds of kilometres away in Serbia then. And Serbs had not yet rallied to Titos Partisans at this time. Their doing so was a consequence of the Croatian slaughter of defenseless Serb farmers. There were no Serb forces at Kozara, only defenseless farmers. j p maher Ex-Nazi Waldheim gives foreign relations prize By Robert Fisk in Beirut 31 May 2002 A former Wehrmacht lieutenant, a certain Kurt Waldheim, has arrived in Lebanon. Those who enjoy the "where-are-they-now?" school of journalism may be interested to know that the ex-intelligence officer of the Nazi army's Kampfgruppe Westbosnien for the former UN secretary general and Austrian president spent part of the Second World War in Bosnia has endowed an annual academic prize in his own name, for a student or researcher at the Lebanese University who wins a contest in international relations. Mr Waldheim managed, in his own thesis (University of Vienna) to recall only his military service in Russia and omitted his role in the Wehrmacht's Army Group E, whose commander, General Löhr, was executed for war crimes. Some horrific crimes took place in Yugoslavia, where Bosnia became part of the pro-Nazi Croatian Ustashi's territory. Although he denied knowledge of atrocities against Serbs and Jews in Yugoslavia, one of his intelligence offices was metres away from an execution ground and a few miles from an extermination camp. In Berlin archives, an Austrian researcher found the account of an interrogation of a British commando captured in the Balkans. It was signed "W" in Mr Waldheim's own hand. He always denied he interrogated the man, who was later killed by the Gestapo. The first "Waldheim Award" will be granted at the Lebanese University's school of dentistry today. In international relations, of course. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?dir=75&story=300756&host=3&printable=1