Gunshots have been heard during Monday night in Tetovo region whose intensity decreased early Tuesday.

 

Tetovo Interior Department says six flare signals from the Teke have been also registered.

 

Volleys of gunshots and sporadic shootouts have been heard from the downtown, the area around the Red Cross and Makpetrol warehouses, "Kuzman Josifovski Pitu" barracks, apartment block 72, and other directions.

 

Gunshots have been also registered from the villages of Ozormiste, Palatica, Trebos Strimnica, Prsovce, Tearce, Dolno and Gorno Orasje. Police says that last night's shootouts have not been aimed at direct targets.

 

No gunshots have been registered during Monday night in Kumanovo - Lipkovo region, MIA's correspondent reports.

 

Army sources say seven shootouts have been heard from the village of Opae supposedly due to a celebration.

 

At Monday's regular meeting of the ARM, Ministry of Interior and the local self-community officials with the OSCE, the NATO and the EU representatives, it has been concluded that the security situation in Lipkovo villages is improving.

 

 

 

SEC expects to receive 1,500 additional ballot boxes, which will be placed on 2,973 polling stations.

 

SEC spokesman Zoran Tanevski reported on Tuesday that the polling stations which should be used by more voters than the oters will be equipped with two ballot boxes.

 

He reported that the ballot boxes were delivered together with the invisible ink, the UV lamps, envelops for the used and unused ballots and the ribbons that will be used for sealing the boxes.

 

Together with these materials, as he said, the manual for voting was also delivered.

 

"Nine thousand screens for voting will be also distributed to SEC. Each polling station will be equipped with at least three screens," he said.

 

The voting material is donation from the International Foundation for Election Systems - IFES and is worth Euro 266,000.

 

 

Reality Macedonia
By Irina Gelevska

 

Skopje - According to the State Election Commission's information gathered till August 26, 217 international elections observers arrived in Macedonia and asked for official accreditation. 155 are observers from the ODIHR, 40 from the Monitoring mission of EU, 12 observers from the International Republican Institute and 10 observers from the Institute for media monitoring-Düsseldorf.

 

"The last deadline for accreditations is 4-th of September," said today the spokesman of the State Election Commission, Zoran Tanevski.

 

Asked weather the international observers really need to ask for accreditation, Tanevski answered that they are bound by the rules of the Commission.

 

"I'm not saying that the international observers are not obligated to get an accreditations from the State Election Commission. [not un-formation alert!] The procedure is that the long-term observers arrive in the country 6-8 weeks before the day of the Elections, as they did, and the short-term observers arrive in the country 5-6 days before September 15. This is very normal," said the OSCE Spokesman in Wien, Kit Jennis.

 

According the decision of the Permanent Council of OSCE, 750 observers from ODIHR are assigned for monitoring of the 4th Parliamentary Elections in Macedonia scheduled for September 15.

 

 

 

 

 

Bulgaria Can Help Neighbours in Anti-Terrorism Training, Deputy Interior Minister Tells Conference.

 

Sofia, September 3 (BTA) - Bulgaria has a potential to help the neighbouring countries train their police and special services, and can share its own experience with the struggle against drugs and human trafficking, Interior Minister Boiko Kotsev said Tuesday. He was among the speakers at a conference "A Year Later: New Strategies against International Terrorism" organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the European Institute.

 

Bulgaria has ratified all international documents for identifying and proving the various forms of terrorism, and is ready to be actively involved in creating a new anti-terrorism convention, Kotsev said.

 

Bulgaria has signed 24 bilateral agreements on assistance in criminal cases.

 

Addressing the forum, Roderick Moore of the US Embassy here said that the relations between Bulgaria and the Unites States have never been stronger, which is due, among other things, to this country's commitment to the fight against terror. In his words, the tragic events of September 11 resulted in an unprecedented unity of the world democracies.

 

Bulgaria's commitment to the efforts against terrorism was also praised by German Ambassador Ursula Seiler-Albring. She said that international cooperation is the main instrument in the struggle against terror.

 

In his speech, Egyptian Ambassador Mohamed Taufik said that terrorism has no religion and that Islam is a religion of peace.

 

 

 

Varna, September 3 (BTA) - Bulgaria and Romania are holding a joint naval exercise September 3-4 under a Defence Ministry schedule for cooperation between the Romanian and the Bulgarian armed forces.

 

The aim of the exercise is to improve interoperability in operations against submarines in compliance with the NATO procedures and standards, said the press office of the Bulgarian Navy.

 

The exercise will be held in the western part of the Black Sea outside Bulgarian territorial waters. Bulgaria is sending 4 patrol boats, 1 submarine, 1 auxiliary vessel and two helicopters. Romania will participate with 1 patrol ship.

 

The exercise will be held under the command of the Varna naval base commander.

 

The marines will practice seeking and trailing a submarine, tactical manoeuvres, an embargo operation and transfer of cargo at sea, all of which are in the spirit of partnership for Peace, the press release says further.

 

 

 

Sofia, September 3 (BTA) - The Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, General Nikola Kolev, will inspect the Bulgarian contingents within KFOR on September 4 and within SFOR on September 5, the Defence Ministry told BTA in a press release.

 

General Kolev will decorate Brigadier General Wolf-Dieter Skodowski, Commander of Multinational Brigade South, with Badge of Honour for Loyal Service with the Colours, First Class, and Lieutenant Colonel Werner Schesni (name may be misspelt), Commander of the reinforced German Engineer Battalion within the structure of MNB South, with Badge of Honour for Loyal Service with the Colours, Third Class.

 

In Kosovo, General Kolev will hand the keys to the occupants of a new block of flats built by the Bulgarian Engineer Platoon.

 

During his visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Armed Forces will confer with the SFOR Commander, General John Silvester.

 

 

 

Former Special Services Commandoes Arrested after Recent Sofia Shootout Were on Payroll of Nove Holding, Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Says.

 

Sofia, September 3 (BTA) - The former special service commandoes who were arrested in connection with recent shootouts in Sofia, were working for business tycoon Vassil Bozhkov, Interior Ministry chief secretary Boiko Borissov told reporters Tuesday.

 

Borissov and Deputy Interior Minister Boiko Kotsev were at a conference on new strategies against international terrorism here, organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the European Institute.

 

Vassil Bozhkov is President of the Board of Directors of Nove Holding whose businesses vary from hoteliery to Web design, software development, market studies, trade, bureaux de change and shooting galleries, to mention but a few.

 

Among Bozhkov's other positions are President of the Supervisory Board of the CSKA football club, President of two other forms, Board member in four, and shareholder in a total of 34.

 

"We cannot claim that Bozhkov is in any way connected with the assaults on the owner of the Spartak sports complex Alexei Petrov and businessman Dimiter Djamov, because it would be a very serious accusation," Borissov said in reply to a reporter's question.

 

Petrov and Djamov were assaulted by gunmen in central Sofia mid-August only a day apart. In the wake of the shooting, in which both men were injured, police arrested four people who had been with the Bulgarian special services and had left at one time or another.

 

"We just had to arrest these people because we found lots of weapons cached in the back-yards and homes we checked," Borissov said.

 

In a series of raids on August 23, the National Service for Combating Organized Crime (NSCOC) arrested the former special services commandoes Nikolai Dobrev, Lyubomir Barov, Kiril Tsintsov and Atanas Krustev, as well as Trayan and Nikolinka Vurbanov whose house in the village of Gorna Malina (near Sofia) served as a warehouse for weapons and ammunitions, including sniper rifles, makeshift rifles, Steyr and Kalashnikov assault rifles, a submachine gun, pistols and grenade launchers. Later police said that they had found more weaponry at other locations.

 

On August 28 a fifth former special service commando, Kiril Naidenov, was also arrested on suspicions on belonging to the same ring.

 

Boiko Borissov said the Interior Ministry is working on several leads. Several services are involved in the investigation. Investigator/prosecutor teams have been formed, getting support from Interior Ministry experts, and the Interior Ministry technical services sift through everything that has been found. "We are working without a minute of rest because we are aware of the concern of the public over this case, and we want to complete the investigation successfully," the Interior Ministry chief secretary said.

 

He said that having grenade launchers is "serious stuff" because they can hit armoured targets. "They can be used against any statesman in an armoured vehicle or against any plane, they can do serious harm."

 

Meanwhile a panel of the Sofia Appelate Court upheld a decision of Sofia City Court and ordered that the former special service commandoes remain in custody. On the prosecutors' request, the court sat behind closed doors. The court's decision was based on the evidence collected so far on the case, and the testimony of the only - anonymous - witness so far.

 

Nikolinka Trayanova was bailed out for 500 leva last week.

 

For security consideration, the whole floor with the Appelate Court offices in Sofia's Palace of Justice was sealed off by police. No reporters were allowed.

 

Also on Tuesday, a National Council on Narcotic Substances will discuss a strategy against drugs, the Deputy Interior Minister said. He and the Interior Ministry chief secretary will be among the participants.

 

 

 

PM Saxe-Coburg-Gotha: "Ruling Majority Proved that Only State Interest Dictates Privatization Process"

 

Sofia, September 3 (BTA) - "We have proved that, as far as the ruling majority is concerned, only the state interest dictates the privatization process," Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said at a joint meeting Tuesday of the parliamentary groups of the ruling Simeon II National Movement (SNM) and its coalition partner, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). The PM's statement was provided to the press by the SNM Press Centre.

 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha outlines the key priorities in the work of the majority during the new session of Parliament. He stressed that the Government is tasked with successful completion of privatization in the strategic branches. "In the major privatization transactions that have been implemented, the Bulgarian Government did not yield to pressure, and this is an important message to foreign investors," the Prime Minister said.

 

The ruling majority's efforts towards harmonization of Bulgarian legislation and meeting membership criteria are expected to result in completion of Bulgaria's EU accession negotiations before the end of 2003, and at the NATO Summit this coming November, Bulgaria expects to be invited to join the Alliance.

 

According to the PM, the achievement of these priorities requires the passage of packages of bills which will directly lead to improvement of Bulgarians' living standards.

 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said, quoted by the SNM Press Centre, that his Government will press ahead with the fight against crime and corruption and, through the actions of the executive and through the legislature, towards completion of the reform in the judiciary.

 

"An assertion of unity and teamwork inside the SNM is an important condition for implementation of the national priorities underlying our governance programme. We can no longer afford to call into question the fulfilment of important political decisions because of the conduct of individual MPs or ministers," the PM told the SNM and MRF MPs. "Seamless interaction and teamwork are an important launch pad for the SNM's successful participation in the forthcoming local elections and for development of the party's structures," he added.

 

"Each MP and minister will be clear from now on that if he or she maintains an alternative position after a common political position has been made, this will be treated by the ruling majority as political sabotage from the point of view of the possibility to implement the national priorities," SNM Floor Leader Plamen Panayotov said after the joint meeting of the SNM and MRF parliamentary groups.

 

MRF leader Ahmed Dogan said after the meeting that the stability of the SNM-MRF coalition is "indisputable." "All conjectures that there are rifts in the coalition do not originate from the majority but are insinuated from elsewhere," he added. Dogan pointed out that in future the decision-making technology will be better coordinated and purpose-oriented in terms of priorities. "The year-long political and parliamentary experience is sufficient, so we cannot plead inexperience," the MRF leader said.

 

Talking to journalists, Prime Minister Saxe-Coburg-Gotha noted that this political year will be the most important in 12 years, considering the implementation of the national priorities associated with Bulgaria's EU and NATO membership. "There are over 100 bills on the legislative programme of the SNM-MRF coalition, and half of them are socio-economic in character," the PM observed. He described as "ambitious" the majority's programme and stressed the power-holders' readiness "to work together, firmly and with the help of all MPs and ministers" for implementation of this programme.

 

Along with the package of socio-economic laws, the ruling majority will concentrate on bills related to the judicial reform during the new session of Parliament, Panayotov said.

 

 

 

President Purvanov Confers with Heads of State of Brazil, Venezuela, Kazakstan at Johannesburg World Summit.

 

Johannesburg, September 3 (BTA) - Within the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov held bilateral meetings with Presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Purvanov's Press Secretariat said Tuesday. All three meetings focussed on the development of trade and economic relations.

 

With President Cardoso, the Bulgarian head of state discussed the need to reactivate the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation. The two noted the importance of the Memordanum on Cooperation between the two countries' foreign ministries and of the political consultations held between them. The sides expressed readiness to cooperate actively in the international organizations.

 

Purvanov told Chavez that Bulgaria regards Venezuela as a priority country in Latin America which plays an important part in the region and holds the 2002 Chairmanship of the Group of Seventy-Seven at the United Nations. The two presidents agreed that the potential of bilateral relations is underutilized. There are opportunities for more efficient interaction in agriculture, mechanical engineering and tourism, as well as in the formation of joint ventures.

 

The Bulgarian head of state invited President Chavez to visit Bulgaria, and he accepted the invitation. According to the two, work on some 20 agreements must be ready for signature during the visit.

 

The Bulgarian President may visit Kazakhstan next year. Purvanov was invited to make the trip and take along a business delegation at a session with Nursultan Nazarbayev. According to Purvanov, it is important that the visit be preceded by establishment of contacts between the executive branch in the two countries, especially in the economy, construction and transport.

 

Purvanov and Nazarbayev noted the need that their countries open embassies in each other's capital cities. They found that there is a fine legal framework for promotion of bilateral business relations but two-way trade is insufficient.

 

There are opportunities for more vigorous relations in construction, transport and communications. The Presidents discussed in more specific terms the opportunities for implementation of projects for transiting Kazakh oil via Bulgaria.

 

On Tuesday, President Purvanov also attended a Meeting of Heads of State and Government of the Francophone Countries, presided over by Presidnet Jacques Chirac of France. The participants in the forum backed a special document, drafted by France, in support of the Draft Political Declaration of the World Summit and of the Plan of Action.

 

Later in the day, Purvanov will attend the launch of the EU, Africa and CIS Partnership Initiative on Water and, late in the evening, a parallel event "Partnership for Local Action: towards Sustainble Communities in Central and Eastern Europe," devoted on the good practices in Bulgaria and Turkey, the President's Press Secretariat said.

 

 

 

Sergeants and military officers will be able to draw soft credits amounting to 10 salaries, it transpired yesterday. "We are negotiating with several banks to pay our employees with credit cards from October on," Defense Minister Nikolay Svinarov said.

 

 

 

Hundreds of collectors occupied the Central Bank (BNB) to buy the new gold coins of 1 lev, that were put on the market yesterday. An hour and a half before the desks were opened, the queue was 200 metres long. 10 desks were assigned to sell the gold coins. Some of the people were jammed in the rush, but did not give up the idea to buy the new coins, costing 500 levs each.

 

Ksenia Solyanskaya

 

Russias Foreign Ministry has once again lambasted Eduard Shevardnadze for ''conniving with terrorists and whitewashing them''. Moscows latest verbal attack on Georgia followed comments by the Georgian leader that he still considers Ruslan Gelayev, Russias most wanted Chechen warlord, an educated and intelligent person, and that Georgia lacks sufficient proof of his terrorist activities.

 

Late on Tuesday evening Russian authorities once again demanded that Georgia immediately extradite Gelayev. The Foreign Ministrys spokesman Alexander Yakovenko could hardly conceal his vexation as he addressed a news conference in Moscow: ''We hope that the Georgian leadership will at last stop conniving with terrorists and justifying them and in the shortest possible time will extradite those who have committed crimes on the territory of the Russian Federation.''

 

Moscow is especially annoyed with Tbilisis attitude towards Gelayev. At a news conference last Saturday Georgias President Eduard Shevardnadze was compelled to set the record straight with the press after his words concerning Gelayev, uttered about a year earlier. Then, Shevardnadze said he considered the well-known field commander ''a decent and intelligent man'', for which the Georgian leader has been severely derided by Russias officials and media ever since.

 

Shevardnadze failed to talk his way out of the awkward situation. ''They should not be caviling at my words concerning this issue,'' he said. ''Yes, I did call Ruslan Gelayev an educated person. As far as I know, it is actually so. But then, are there so few educated criminals? One can name plenty. We have many cases when educated people serve sentences for certain crimes.''

 

Nevertheless, Shevardnadze made it clear that he has no immediate intentions of sending Gelayev to jail. ''I have no evidence of Ruslan Gelayevs criminal or terrorist activities,'' he said.

 

Following the debate on the educational level of the infamous Chechen separatist, the Russian Foreign Ministry regarded the issue from a different angle. On Tuesday Yakovenko recalled how many times Russia demanded Gelayevs extradition and provided Georgia with evidence of his guilt.

 

Yakovenko underlined that in November 2001 the Russian Prosecutor Generals Office asked Georgia to extradite Gelayev according to the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases of January 22, 1993. In March 2002 the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic note to Georgia's embassy in Moscow demanding once again the extradition of Gelayev who was wanted federally by that time.

 

The note gave details of his criminal activity on Russian territory.

 

However, it is highly unlikely that the new reminder issued by Russia to Georgia will make Tbilisi take any particular measures. Despite the special operation launched by Georgia in the Pankisi Gorge, which Moscow believes to be a safe haven for Chechen separatists and their stronghold, Tbilisi has given to understand, that the key task it pursued by that operation was to purge it of criminals, not Chechen rebels.

 

Moreover, according to Georgian security service reports, Gelayevs men left Pankisi before the police operation began. It remains unknown where the rebels headed. Yet, there are grounds to assume that they went in the direction of the Chechen part of the Russian border.

 

Incidentally, at the meeting with the PACE delegate Lord Judd on Tuesday, the head of the pro-Moscow Chechen administration Akhmad Kadyrov once again confirmed that he was continuing talks with Gelayev.

 

Even more sensational sounded Kadyrovs revelation that two weeks earlier he met with an envoy from Aslan Maskhadov. Gazeta.Ru will report on that shortly.