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Heavily armed berets guarded killer Sreten Josic in front of the Central Sofia Prison yesterday. He appealed against the decision according to which he is to be extradited to Holland. For security reasons the court hearing was held in prison. Photo: Marina Angelova
Foreign Minister Solomon Passy conferred the Golden Laurel Twig, the Badge of Honour of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, to Eric Weiss, a former diplomat at the French Embassy in Sofia. Weiss takes credit for the granting of fellowships to Bulgarian students by the French Government during his term as head of the Embassy's Cutlural Department (1990-1995). Pressphoto - BTA photo: Bistra Boshnakova
SITUATION IN TETOVO.
MIA
Occasional gunshots have been registered in the Tetovo region Thursday afternoon, MIA's correspondent reported.
The police department says that the gunshots were coming from the settlement Zicarnica and the locality Teke.
According to the police department, three armed persons wearing camouflage uniforms kidnapped Jetmir Sakiri yesterday afternoon. His father Adem Sakiri reported the kidnapping to the police.
Police sources say that the kidnapped were released last night.
Frequent gunshots have been heard overnight in Kumanovo - Lipkovo region, MIA's correspondent reports.
Ministry of Internal Affairs says public order and peace have been violated 59 times with volleys of gunfire and sporadic shootouts that came from the villages of Matejce, Ropaljce, Opae and Nikustak. Shootouts have not been aimed at direct targets.
BRIEFING IN THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR.
MIA
The Macedonian Ministry of Interior confirmed the information that there is an organization named as "Army of the Republic of Ilirida" present in Macedonia, which is a segment of the "National front for liberation and unification of the Albanian territories."
Besides this structures, officials from the Ministry say, there are also so-called "National eagles," which function as intelligence and counterintelligence structures.
The "Republic of Ilirida" and the "National Front" have approximately 200 members, armed with the weapons that remained in Macedonia after the NATO "Essential Harvest" mission.
"they are expected to procure more sophisticated weapons with funds they generate from the already established fund 'The fatherland is under threat' as well as from the newly-created fund 'Call for freedom' which have branch offices in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and the USA," Ministry officials said.
The Ministry has an information that about 1,000 applications for the uniforms and the caps of the "National front" have been printed in Kosovo and distributed in Macedonia.
These groups, as said at the briefing, are composed of minor criminals, drug dealers and smugglers, who never managed to fit in the social system.
Mediator and financier of the armed groups is the "Albanian king" Leka Zolu.
According to the MoI, the "national eagles" do not enjoy support from the ethnic Albanians, nor from the Albanian political entities in Macedonia.
"At this moment they search for political patron who would stand behind them. From the information we have on our disposal, this terrorist group is supported by immigrant circles in West Europe, led by Gafur Abduli from Kicevo who lives in Switzerland and who was until recently one of the closest associates of Ali Ahmeti," sources from the MoI say.
One of their priority short-term goals is to prevent the organizing of the parliamentary elections and to obstruct the implementation of the Framework Agreement. On long-term scale they aim to create large Albanian state on the Balkans.
The Ministry of Interior reported that on the meetings held on uly 8 in Gniljane and on July 13-14 in Elbasan, these terrorist organizations adopted specific tasks for launching new terrorist activities in Macedonia. These meetings were attended by representatives from Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and the Albanian diaspora in Europe. Former mayor of Gostivar Rufi Osmani was also present.
Main targets, as the MoI reported, would be state institutions, members of the security forces, important roads and vital buildings.
Their hit-list also includes representatives of the Albanian political bloc who "betrayed the combat for liberation of the Albanian territories."
According to the information that the MoI has, Arif Halili from Lipkovo and Bejtuli Taip from Neraste were killed by Kosovo Albanians who illegally entered in Macedonia, and Jusuf Iljazi from Tetovo was killed by Albanians also from Tetovo who are currently in Kosovo.
Having in mind this information, the MoI is undertaking activities to locate the armed group, to disarm them and to neutralize them. For that purpose, the MoI enhanced the control on the vital buildings as well as the patrols on the borders with Kosovo and Albania.
Officials from the MoI warn that incidents are possible during the forthcoming elections, especially in the crisis areas.
Regarding the recently issued citizenship forms to Macedonians who live abroad, the MoI reported that these people would not be allowed to vote on the elections.
Macedonian police claim new insurgents threaten fragile peace.
By KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES, Associated Press Writer
SKOPJE, Macedonia - Macedonian police on Thursday alleged that a new ethnic Albanian group has emerged to undermine peace in this tense country and claimed that the supposed group carried out a spate of recent killings.
Voislav Zafirovski, the police spokesman, said Macedonian intelligence had unveiled a new group of insurgents, known as the Army of the Republic of Ilirida, or ARI.
Zafirovski accused the group of being behind the killing of three ethnic Albanians in separate incidents last week in the northwestern Tetovo region, the scene of last year's bitter conflict.
Two of the victims one a former ethnic Albanian rebel commander were killed in drive-by shootings. A third man died in a mysterious village shooting spree.
However, a spokesman for NATO troops monitoring Macedonia's peace process said the alliance had no "credible information for the existence of this group.
"We are aware that there are some groups causing problems ... but are not a big threat to the country's security," said NATO spokesman, Craig Ratcliff.
A spokesman for the ethnic Albanian Democratic Prosperity Party, Zekir Bekteshi, said police were "purely speculating" about the group. Ethnic Albanian leaders in Macedonia had no "relevant confirmation" of its existence, he said.
"These kind of statements can only serve pre-electoral campaigning and will not, I fear, contribute to peaceful and democratic elections," Bekteshi told The Associated Press.
Upcoming general elections, scheduled for Sept. 15, form part of a Western-brokered peace deal that ended last year's insurgency.
Rebels took up arms to fight for greater rights for the country's ethnic Albanian minority, which makes up a third of this country of 2 million.
Dozens were killed and tens of thousands fled their homes before the peace deal ended the conflict six months later. The rebels disbanded and surrendered their weapons to NATO in exchange for an amended constitution and laws that granted ethnic Albanians more say in the governing of the country.
Zafirovski said the new group was allegedly armed with weapons left behind by the National Liberation Army, which launched the insurgency.
He also claimed that the group's ranks include 200 extremists, mostly criminals, drug dealers and former convicts, and that it aims to unite all ethnic Albanians living in the Balkans.
Police allegations come after authorities have failed to solve a series of mysterious slayings in recent weeks.
SEC AND IFES TO CARRY OUT CAMPAIGN FOR EDUCATION OF THE VOTERS.
MIA
The State Election Commission (SEC), in cooperation with the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) will carry out campaign for education of the voters prior to the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
As Mirjana Lazarova-Trajkovska, SEC president said, the campaign would be composed of several segments, starting from printing out of brochures and flyers that will be distributed to the voters through the press, followed by posters and video clips which will aim to prevent some negative aspects in the voting process, such as the violence or the family voting.
As she said, part of the posters and the video clips will be meant for education of "certain categories of voters."
"This refers to, for example, the family voting or to initiating of larger interest among the youth in regard to the elections. One of the video clips will refer to the prevention of the violence during the elections," she said.
In the framework of the campaign, a small manual composed of 20 rules that the voters need to know before they realize their right to vote will be also developed.
The campaign will start around August 20 and will last until September 13.
The SEC president also announced education for the municipal election commissions and for the election boards. For that purpose, as she said, a manual based on the Law for election of MPs will be developed.
The State Election Commission reviewed and accepted the complaint submitted by the Democratic Party of the Albanians regarding its list of candidates for the fifth election district, thus rejecting the decision of the District Election Commission.
As the SEC announcement reads, "The SEC finds the DPA complaint justified, having in mind the submitted evidence that the submitter eliminated the irregularities within the period foreseen with Article 44, paragraph 2 from the Law."
The District Election Commission authorized for the first election district announced the results from the drawing held Wednesday evening.
The Progressive Party of Macedonia will be on the first place on the ballot, followed by the Alliance of the Roma, New Democracy, Macedonian Workers' Party, the Republican Party, DPA, MA and MNP, DS, DUI, DOM-Party of pensioners, group of voters of Igor Dzambazov, PCER, SPM and NDP. The coalition of VMRO-VMRO, the Democratic Party for Union among the Serbs and the Macedonians and the Macedonian Christian Party is on the 16 place, followed by the National Will, and from the 19 to the 31 place on the list are the coalitions VMRO-DPMNE and LP, the National Movement for Macedonia, MAAK-EMO, VMRO-Macedonian, PDP, the Coalition "For Macedonia together", PRUMNI, KPM, DA, VMRO-United, the Democratic Center and the Party of the Green, SDPM. The last on the list is the Democratic Party - forward - Macedonia Forza.
The District Election Commission authorized for the third election district in Stip area also announced the results from the drawing. The list includes total of 23 political parties and coalitions without the independent candidates.
First on the ballot will be the National Will, followed by PCER, VMRO-VMRO, the Republican Party, New Democracy, DUI, Alliance of the Roma, the Macedonian Alliance and the Macedonian National Party, the Alliance for Democratic Action of Macedonia, DA, KPM, VMRO-DPMNE and the Liberal Party, MAAK-EMO, the National Movement for Macedonia, DS, Democratic Center and the Party of the Green, the Movement for Reconstruction of Macedonia, the Coalition "For Macedonia together", VMRO-Macedonian, the Progressive Party, DPA, SPM and last on the ballot is PRUMNI.
President of the District Election Commission authorized for the sixth district said that all parties eliminated the registered irregularities in the submitted lists of candidates. The drawing in this district will take place on Friday at 10,00h.
First Macedonian Peacekeepers in Afghanistan.
A1 TV
By Irina Gelevska
Military Air Base Petrovec near Skopje - 33 years old Captain Zoran Janev from Shtip and 24 years old Lieutenant Marjan Nakov from Skopje are the first Macedonian soldiers sent to Afghanistan in peacekeeping mission.
Captain Janev will work as a HQ officer, and Lieutenant Nakov will perform the duties of Assistant Commander of platoon in ISAF.
Captain Janev has been serving in ARM (Macedonian Army) for 10 years. He is married and has two children, a daughter and a son. Before volunteering for Afghanistan peacekeeping mission, he served in the Shtip Military Barracks.
Lieutenant Marjan Nakov has been in the ARM for 2 years. He married recently and expects a baby in October. Up to this mission, Lieutenant Nakov served in the Military Academy in Skopje.
Both Captain Janev and Lieutenant Nakov received training for peacekeeping missions at home and abroad.
"ARM is well trained army, and I'm sure that our two officers will do a good job in Afghanistan. I wish them luck and I hope they will return on 20th of December alive and well to their families," said Brigadier General Dragan Andreski, the Chief of operation planning in the ARM HQ. Andreski hopes that participation in peacekeeping operations would enhance Macedonia's entry to NATO.
The two Macedonian officers will serve in the Turkish contingent of ISAF in a base near Kabul. They left for Ankara by Hercules C-160 of the Turkish Army. After 10 days in Turkey, they will leave for Afghanistan with their new coleagues. Macedonian Army has already start talks with the Greek, Bulgarian and German Army for sending more troops as part of their contingents in Afghanistan.
Greek-Only Gambling In "Las" Gevgelija.
Reality Macedonia
By Sasha Uzunov
 Jugo Hotel Casino in Gevgelija. Photo by Sasha Uzunov
Can you imagine if American citizens were not permitted to gamble in Las Vegas? There would be revolution in the streets and Elvis Presley would be turning in his grave. Luckily The King isn't alive to see what's going on in the casino of the Macedonian border town of Gjevgjelija.
The Jugo Hotel Casino wants your money only if your Greek! Yep, that's right folks! The lady at the reception desk will kindly ask you in Greek if you have a Greek passport, and if you don't you have to go. "Elvis has left the building!"
If you don't understand Greek she'll repeat the instructions in Macedonian.
Australian and American passport holders are excluded as well!
The casino has its own shuttle service which picks up rich Greek high rollers in a luxurious van and takes them across the border into The Republic of Macedonia, and the gambling tables of Gjevgjelija.
As for the floor show, there were wild rumours of Elvis Presleyopoulos singing a few of his hits, such as "Return to Skopje," "Viva Las Gjevgjelija!"
Casino management refused to comment on its discriminatory policy.
BULGARIA-TORRENTIAL RAINS.
BTA
Torrential Rains Flood Bulgaria, Civil Defence Estimates Damages.
Sofia, August 8 (BTA) - Civil Defence commissions have been set up to inspect and estimate the damage caused in Bulgaria by storms and torrential rains.
In the last few days, heavy rains and storms have hit badly the regions of Gabrovo, Pleven, Lovech, Razgrad, Shoumen and Veliko Turnovo in the north, and the regions of Yambol and Pasardjik in the south.
There were intensive rains in Tryavna municipality, Gabrovo region, pouring down for about 15 hours and flooding the ground floors of dozens of family houses. A landslide near two buildings was activated.
Violent storms destroyed some bridges in Pleven and Pazardjik regions, heavy rains inundated the ground floors of a lot of houses in Lovech region, farm and residential buildings were flooded and damaged in Shoumen and Veliko Turnovo regions.
The situation in Razgrad region is slowly coming back to normal after a thunderstorm that disrupted electricity supply and telephone lines. The hailstorm that hit Samouil municipality destroyed about 199.3 hectares of crops.
The hailstorm that raged in Yambol region - the stones were as big as hazelnuts, destroyed between 15 and 50 per cent of the crops in the fields of several villages.
According to data released by the Civil Defence, last night's storm in Silistra region (Northeastern Bulgaria) disrupted the electricity and water supply in four local municipalities. Electric switchgears were damaged. There were problems with telephone communications in some population centres. Several villages were left without electricity. The roofs of three houses were torn off.
Torrential rains inundated again the population centres in Satovcha municipality, Blagovegrad region (Southwestern Bulgaria). "There is not a single population centre unaffected by yet another natural disaster," Satovcha Mayor Arben Mimenov said. Dozens of houses were flooded, streets were destroyed, and sewers were clogged. "The damage amounts to over 400,000 leva, which does not include destroyed farm produce," Mimenov said.
The ground floors of three hotels and a disco in the Albena resort (on the northern Black Sea coast) were inundated after the heavy rain that fell during the night, the Regional Council for Management of Natural Disasters and Industrial Accidents in Dobrich (Northeastern Bulgaria) said.
The Standing Government Commission for Management of Natural Disasters and Industrial Accidents provided 5,499,940 leva to mitigate the consequences of the natural disasters, the Government press office said. More than half of the amount, 2,759,719 leva, is designed to offset the damage done by the torrential rains, hailstorms, floods and the erosion they caused.
DANUBE BRIDGE 2-INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT.
BTA
Consultant on Engineering, Management of Danube Bridge II Project to be Named by Early October.
Sofia, August 8 (BTA) - An international consultant on the engineering and management of the Danube Bridge II project will start work by the beginning of October, said Evgenia Atanassova of the Transport Policy directorate with the Transport Ministry.
By then a contract will be signed with one of the five European consortia which August 5 submitted bids at the Transport and Telecommunications Ministry.
The five candidates' bids were opened Thursday in the Ministry in the presence of representatives of the candidates, the tender commission, and the European Commission Delegation. Citing confidentiality considerations, the latter insisted that no journalists attend the ceremony.
The tender commission will first acquaint itself with the technical parametres of the bids and it will proceed with the financial parametres only after ascertaining that they meet the competition requirements. The tender commission will work 21 days. It includes Romanian representatives, as well, said the Transport Ministry.
Lyubomil Ivanov, chairman of the joint Bulgarian-Romanian committee on the construction of the second bridge over the Danube, said that the time-frame for the design and construction of the bridge is being observed. The bridge is expected to be built in 2006; the project will be considered completed a year later when the warranty period expire.
The European Commission Delegation to Sofia shortlisted June 11 seven candidates for international consultant.
By August 2, five bids were posted: by Britain's Fabermaunsell Limited in consortium with Louis Berger and Bulgaria's GUS Ltd; Britain Hyder Consulting Ltd. Germany's Obermeyer in consortium with French Systra and EEG Simecsol and CIE Consult from Ireland; French Scetauroute S.A. in consortium with Danish Cowi A.S. and Spain's Typsa, Britain's Scott Wilson Holdings in consortium with Spain's Iberinsa S.A and Britain's Flint and Neil Partnership.
Of the seven shortlisted candidates Germany's De Consult Deutsche Eisenbahn Consulting in consortium with Britain's Ove Arup& Partners Ltd and two Finnish companies, as well as Britain's WS Atkins International Ltd in consortium with Germany's Schlaich Bergermann und Partner GBR, did post bids.
The consultant will sign a 60-month contract. The conceptual design of the bridge is expected to be ready by next May.
The international consultant will prepare a schematic design of the adjacent road and railway infrastructure on Bulgarian territory and tender documentation for the construction of the bridge and the adjacent infrastructure.
The consultant should assist the unit on the implementation and management of the project during the preparation of the final environmental impact assessment. It will consult the unit on the management, engineering, finances and legal matters during the construction works.
The consultant will be paid a maximum fee of 5.755 million euros, of which 4.998 million euros will be provided under the EU's ISPA programme, and the remainder will come from the state budget. The Bulgarian government will fund the preparation of the final environmental impact assessment.
Balkan Flights to Be Watched Closely.
Standartnews
Belcho Tsanev
Air traffic inspectors tested to prove their expertise.
The safety of Balkan's flights will be under scrutiny every day. Special group of experts will inform the Transport Ministry about the condition of the planes, Deputy-Minister Milcho Milanov said yesterday. The decision was taken after two meetings he had with Olga Milenkova and Hristo Mollov - Balkan Airlines receivers. All employees of the central directorate of 'Civil Airways Administration' will have to pass a test to prove their skills. The exams will be held periodically, Milanov said.
MRF Issued Ultimatum for Bulgartabac.
Standartnews
Valcho Milchev
We won't give the holding to offshore companies which have nothing to do with the tobacco business, maintain Dogan's close associates.
'We won't allow Bulgartabac to fall into the hands of an offshore firm or a company which has never been dealing with tobacco. We have always stood for denationalization that would protect the interests of the tobacco producers, keep their jobs and give the chance to the holding to meet certain criteria in buying-back and processing tobacco,' Ramadan Karakash, regional leader of MRF in Kardjali, said. MRF (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) is highly responsible when it comes to Bulgartabac's privatization, Milan Milanov - BSP deputy-leader in Kardjali, added. To him, both MRF leader Dogan and Agriculture Minister Dikme are concerned about the issue and won't take any steps that could be to the detriment of their electorate in the region.
Tobacco Capital - Seller or Buyer?
Standartnews
The authorities admit that the four lawyers are their favorite buyer for Bulgartabak.
With tender emotions "Standart" is watching the vaudeville performed by ministers, top officials and entire state departments. The main theme is their favoritism to one of the candidate-buyers for the holding, which is still Bulgarian but is on the brink of becoming allegedly Deutsche Bank sponsored firm - Tobacco Capital Partners.
These days Mrs. Anna Rouscheva, head of the PR department in the Privatization Agency, officially declared that nothing impedes the consultant in the privatization deal to buy the venture earmarked for privatization. Naturally, she meant the favorite - Tobacco Capital. The shareholders in Tobacco Capital - lawyers Dzhingov, Guginski, Kioutchukov and Velichkov are not just consultants, they are authors of the juridical analysis of Bulgartabak holding prepared during the privatization. A copy of this analysis was given to each bidder, the above-mentioned persons including, although when the latter had already become buyers. Thus, the principle according to which the bidders should be treated on equal footing was violated. To avoid infringements due to a privileged position of consultants and officials involved in a privatization procedure the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Act strictly prohibits (Art.24) to people who are engaged in preparing juridical analyses, privatization appraisals, etc., to buy property, shares or bonds of the respective venture for one year after the deal is sealed. Same applies to members of their families.
We in "Standart" sincerely hope that soon things will clear up. Before that we would like to hear the answer to the following questions:
1. Who gave 2,5 million euro for the deposit to the lawyers who own Tobacco Capital? We also know what is a bank and when it pays its own money for something that doesn't belong to it and it is still hesitating whether to buy it at all. So we simply don't buy the tales about Deutsche Bank and poor Madam Amanda Clemonso, who for 12 years has been signing hundreds of thousands bank transfers every day.
2. When the government's favorite deposited the money? Didn't they do it on June 21 when the deadline was June 14?
3. What financial guarantees Tobacco Capital gave in their final offer? It seems none.
4. What are the real investments Tobacco Capital promised to make in their final offer? Aren't they worth 17,250,000 euro? Wasn't the required minimum 20,000,000 euro?
We do not ask you what has to happen with a bidder who doesn't meet these requirements. And on top of everything in this case the bidder appears both as a buyer and a seller. We think that the answer is clear!
JORDAN - KING - BULGARIA - PRIME MINISTER.
BTA
King Abdullah II of Jordan Receives Bulgarian Prime Minister Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Sofia, August 8 (BTA) - King Abdullah II of Jordan received Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha on Wednesday evening to discuss future cooperation between the two countries. The talk focused on economic and trade relations, the Council of Ministers' Information and Public Relations Directorate wrote in a press release Thursday.
The two met at Al Baraka Palace for a dinner given in honour of the Prime Minister by King Abdullah II and his consort, Queen Rania.
The sides discussed efforts towards the cessation of violence in the Palestinian territories and the creation of a most favourable environment for resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
In Jordan and in Lebanon, Bulgaria has many friends among young people who have graduated from Bulgarian universities, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said. He noted that his current visit to Jordan, as well as the immediately preceding one to Lebanon, are aimed to attain the principle objective of attracting larger economic investment to Bulgaria and thus create more jobs.
Thursday's programme of the Prime Minister's visit to Jordan includes a second meeting with Prime Minister Ali Abu Al-Ragheb and other Government officials. Later in the day the guest will pay tribute at King Hussein's grave.
The Bulgarian delegation will tour the Sahab special industrial area.
Transport and Communications Minister Plamen Petrov is expected to confer with Transport Minister Nader Al-Zahabi.
NUCLEAR FUEL - TRANSPORTATION.
BTA
Nuclear Waste Transportation Issue to Be Settled.
Sofia, August 8 (BTA) - Bulgaria will be able to have its spent nuclear fuel transported via Ukraine to Russia. A provision to this effect is available in a draft trilateral agreement on cooperation in the transportation of nuclear materials, which was approved by Bulgaria's Council of Ministers on Thursday, the Government's PR Directorate said.
The document will settle the problem concerning the transportation of nuclear waste from the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant by abolishing the current practice of regulating this matter by successive annual protocols, the Government said.
Russia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova concluded a similar agreement in November 1997. The suggested scheme involved transportation of nuclear materials between Bulgaria and Russia via the territories of Ukraine and Moldova. The document never entered into force as Moldova did not ratify it.
The latest batch of Bulgarian nuclear fuel was transported via Ukraine by detouring Moldova. The new agreement excludes Moldova as a party.
Petkanov: Gen. Borissov Is Real Godsend for IM.
Standartnews
Raina Tosheva
General Boiko Borissov is a real find for the Interior Ministry. He made a special contribution to the success of the ministry in the fight against crime last year, said Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov during his yesterday's visit to Vratsa. There's no rivalry between me and the Chief Secretary of Interior, on the contrary - we are a good tandem, Petkanov said further.
BNB to Issue Gold BG Lev.
Standartnews
Miglena Georgieva
The commemorative coin will be in circulation from September 2 on.
The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) will issue a gold Bulgarian lev on September 2. It will be a memorial coin of 1 lev nominal value, BNB sources said. Figure 1 and emission 2002 will be depicted on the face, while 12 stars will cover the space around. The reverse will feature the portrait of St. Ivan Rilski was well as the legend 'Bulgarian National Bank'. The commemorative lev will be made of gold, its weight - 15.55 gr., while the emission will be of 2,000 numbers. On October 19, when Bulgaria commemorates St. Ivan Rilski, the central bank will release also a regular coin of 1 lev. It will bear the same distinctive features as the jubilee one, but will be made of ordinary metal.
BULGARIA - AFGHANISTAN - AID.
BTA
Bulgaria to Provide Humanitarian Grant Aid to Afghanistan.
Sofia, August 8 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Government has decided to provide Afghanistant with medicines and supplies to an aggregate value of 426,987 leva, the Council of Ministers Information Directorate said Thursday.
The aid consists of tents, blankets, capes, bed sheets, top coats, winter and summer clothing, camp chairs and tables, stoves, bandages and gauze, provided by the State Agency for Civil Protection and the Ministry of Defence.
In addition to this aid, the Bulgarian Red Cross is providing blankets and medicines worth 9,700 leva.
The Council of Ministers decree was adopted in response to the appeals of the Interim Authority of Afghanistan and UN Security Council Resolution 1368 of December 20, 2001. At the International Conference on the Reconstruction of Afghanistan in Tokyo in January 2002, Bulgaria committed itself to provide humanitarian aid, the press release recalls.
The State Agency for Civil Protection has been assigned to organize, coordinate and provide the humanitarian aid.
Health Insurance Fund and Doctors Try to Outwit Each Other.
INTERVIEW Standartnews: Zlatitsa Petrova
Yuliana Uzanicheva
Only patients can help curb corruption, says MD Zlatitsa Petrova, a manager in Health Insurance Fund.
- Mrs. Petrova, do you think that health reform is efficient?
- Health care for aged people, chronically ill and children has improved considerably in the last three years after the reform had been started. The fact that the reform doesn't concern young people fit for work is a drawback.
- What measures are taken to resolve this problem?
- The new framework agreement for 2003 will raise the price of each patient. However, just like in any other system, the actors are trying to outwit each other. For instance, doctors are trying to prescribe as many tests and medicines as possible to ensure better treatment. When the funds, given to a few pew people who are supposed to provide many services, are exhausted there would be no money for healthier people.
- What are you doing to fight corruption?
- Corruption may be put under control only with the help of the patients. There is one serious problem, though - patients are dependent. They come to a clinic to get aid. If at a certain moment their condition is misused, they give in, because they prefer to get treatment irrespective of the circumstances. Be as it may, I cannot agree that doctors are the most corrupt guild. UN 'ignored' abuse at Kosovo mental homes.
The Guardian
Oliver Burkeman in New York
Patients at United Nations mental institutions in Kosovo have been raped and physically attacked under the eyes of UN staff, held in "filthy and degrading" conditions, and threatened with punishment if they report the abuses, according to a damning investigation published in New York yesterday.
In one case, a woman patient was raped after UN employees locked her in a room with a male patient because they wanted to "calm her down", while employees who observed another rape in a hallway said they did not intervene because the victim "must have asked for it", according to the independent campaigning group Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI), which produced the report.
"This is a pervasive pattern of serious abuses. The rule of law simply does not apply within these psychiatric facilities," Dr Eric Rosenthal, MDRI's founder, said yesterday. "We found extreme, inhuman and degrading treatment, arbitrary detention and the physical and sexual assault of women, and we received a blanket denial from the authorities."
Dr Robert Okin, chief psychiatrist at San Francisco's biggest hospital and one of the report's authors, said the UN had "disregarded its own standards for the protection and treatment of the mentally disabled and turned a blind eye to the evidence" at Kosovo's two mental institutions - the Shtime home, which houses 285 patients 19 miles south of Pristina, and the Pristina elderly home - and the Pristina University hospital.
In the course of the two-year study, investigators at Shtime reported finding patients sleeping on concrete floors amid piles of human excrement, or in soiled sheets, and spending their days in apathy, sometimes without clothing, and often with nothing to do. They were given out-of-date psychotropic drugs with no monitoring by experts, because there is no psychiatrist on staff.
In further reports of sexual assault, male patients were allowed to roam the women's wards at night making what one Red Cross worker called "voluntary or involuntary girlfriends".
Kosovo's director of psychiatric institutions told MDRI he did not have the money available to fit a secure door to protect the women's wards, even though funds were available for refurbishment elsewhere in the facility, the group said.
An official at the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (Unmik), which holds overarching responsibility for the government of the former Yugoslav province, admitted the report was "not generally inaccurate".
The campaigners condemned the UN for continuing to fund refurbishment of the institutions instead of integrating the patients into community care programmes, but the official said money was not available for such initiatives.
In addition, the patients were mostly ethnic Serbs, while the surrounding community was mostly ethnic Albanian, and the patients might be "abused or killed" if released.
"This is not in any way to excuse the bad circumstances in the institutions, but it's not like New York or California." But the official agreed that many ethnic Albanian staff had "not been trained and probably [were] not very sympathetic" to the patients.
Another UN official said the organisation intended to "explore and examine" individual allegations, but money might prevent it. "The question is, do we have the resources that are sufficient to follow the recommendations in the report?" the official said.
Later, in a statement, Unmik said: "We are in the process of developing special programmes to alert nurses and staff to the issue," adding that "children have been removed from the institution at Shtime and are no longer vulnerable". But "to build up a structure and mechanisms to deal with this phenomenon at the local level... takes time".
Dr Rosenthal said that patients had been warned by staff to keep quiet. "If you say anything bad about the staff, God will kill you," a nurse was reported as telling a patient in front of an MDRI investigator at Pristina University hospital.
Two former patients there, along with a physician working for another organisation, were also threatened by a staff member to prevent them revealing that the staff member had had sexual relationships with the two patients, the report said.
Furthermore, "when women have been diagnosed as mentally ill, they are no longer credible as witnesses to the abuse", said Laura Prescott, one of the report's authors and president of Sister Witness International, a US organisation founded by formerly institutionalised women.
Dr Okin said UN bureaucracy prevented the organisation from hiring a foreign psychiatrist. There were no psychiatrists at Shtime because "the UN is strangled by its own version of a civil service bureaucracy: its pay classification system is such that it won't allow itself to pay for a psychiatrist", he said.
The report, funded by the Open Society Institute with money from financier George Soros, was endorsed by the most respected human rights organisation in the US yesterday. Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, called it "profoundly important... the horrors it describes are undeniable".
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