SECURITY NEWS, HIMARA,

TERROR IN HIMARA TOWN, KILLED A PENSIONER

Pyrros Bollanos, 74 old, a Greek ethnic of Himara is massacred by Albanian killer, terrorizing other natives in center of the town near Police Department, with out any reason. The Albanian Press, according to police authorities, has justified the terrorist act as a “psychic trauma of killer”.

The terrorist act of Albanian boy against a Greek resident of Himara, which had came in Himara by other regions of Albania to work, has raised the tension of population. Is the second incident when died an ethnic Greek by Himara Region. Three years ago another native of Dhrimades has been killed by Albanian killer inside his house.

Meanwhile from Himara, is waiting for an official declaration of “Omonia” The Greek Ethnic Minority Organization of Albania, about terrorist horor act. According to security foreign specialists team estabilished in Tirana, which cooperate in Albania against terrorism and organizes crime, the terrorist action was a lot of hate, inspired by religion sentiments, could investigate by another directions, such are both Islamic and ethnic reasons, which should be provoked dangerous incidents between ethnic populations.

One month ago the Hellenic population of Himara was provoked by Police Department member creating a dangerous precedent confrontation against population and Albanian authorities.

ALBANIA STOPED TO MOVE TO EU..

Albania told to implement reforms before winning closer EU ties

BRUSSELS – The EU on Monday (5 May) said it was too early to set a date for the next step in Albania's EU integration process, demanding instead that promised reforms be implemented first.

"I do not think that we can take a precise engagement at this stage," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, referring to the formal step of giving Albania EU candidate status.

First, Tirana first needs to demonstrate it is implementing the reforms it has promised. It needs a "solid track record", Mr Barroso told journalists after meeting Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha in Brussels.

more:..http://euobserver.com/9/26085

Kosovo/Albania: Investigate Postwar Abductions, Transfers to Albania

05 May 2008 Human Rights Watch

New York, Additional information has emerged that bolsters allegations of abductions and cross-border transfers from Kosovo to Albania after the 1998-1999 Kosovo war, Human Rights Watch said today. The Kosovar and Albanian governments should open independent and transparent investigations to help resolve the fate of approximately 400 Serbs who went missing after the war.

""Serious and credible allegations have emerged about horrible abuses in Kosovo and Albania after the war," said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch, who investigated human rights violations in Kosovo and Albania for the organization from 1993-2000. "The Prishtina and Tirana governments can show their commitment to justice and the rule of law by conducting proper investigations."

more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/fb14fb6d0cb71b06cd8f73efbe2ba742.htm

Albania Tax Chief Arrested For Murder

May 2008 Tirana _ Albania’s Tax chief is under house arrest on charges of the murder and torture of a businessman in 1995.

The head of Albania’s General Directorate of Taxes, Arben Sefgjini, who previously served as the head of Tirana’s Secret Service Office, SHIK, and three of his former colleagues Budion Mece, Avni Kolladashi and Ilir Kumbaro have been charged with the torture and murder of Macedonian-Albanian, Remzi Hoxha in 1995. The four former SHIK officers are accused of abducting Remzi Hoxha, Zizo Kristopoli and Avdyl Loshaj on October 21, 1995. P

rosecutors believe that after being placed in a SHIK safe house in the town of Lezha, in northern Albania, the three were tortured by the defendants, while Hoxha died as a result of the wounds inflected during torture. The reasons behind the abduction and torture remain unclear. The defendants have all declared their innocence through their layers during the arraignment hearings held at the High Crimes Court in Tirana.

The arrest of Sefgjini comes after Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Minister of Finance, Ridvan Bode both refused to dismiss him from his duty, despite the request filed by the prosecution office in court for his arrest.The arrest warrant from the court on Sunday means that Sefgjini is automatically suspended as head of Albania’s tax office.

The mountain people (Gorani)

15:00 Fri 02 May 2008 - Spasena Baramova

A little more than a month after Bulgaria recognised Kosovo in a joint act with Croatia and Hungary, European Affairs Minister Gergana Grancharova became the first Bulgarian minister to make an official visit to the newly proclaimed republic.

Along with meetings with high-ranking Kosovar and Western officials, Grancharova’s programme included talks with representatives of the Gorani community in Kosovo, including Mursel Halili, chairperson of the Gora Civil Initiatiative party.

The Gorani are a Slavic ethnic group adhering to Islam. In all Slav languages the word “gora” means “mountain”, hence the English equivalent of “Gorani” would be “mountain people”. Since Bulgarian scientists have published research showing linguistic and ethnic similarities between the Gorani and the Bulgarians over the years, debate has centred around their possible Bulgarian origin and whether they should be recognised as a Bulgarian minority.

more see: http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/the-mountain-people/id_29067/catid_5

From Stalin to saints


Tom Blass
Published 01 May 2008



Tom Blass finds jaunty funeral parlours and newly restored monasteries and mosques in rural Albania

Hurtling along the Drino Valley floor, my taxi driver forced me to repeat after him the names of the villages that we passed through. It was a torture of sorts and to change the subject I pointed out a rash of bunkers, the concrete pimples that polka-dot the countryside, and from which Albania's former dictator Enver Hoxha believed his loyal citizens would one day defend the motherland unto their death.

The driver transferred his energies to a pantomime of machine-gun spraying and the steering wheel was left to trace the contours of the contorted road by itself. I wondered whether I had made a fatal error. But within an hour he had deposited me alive at my destination, planted a (manly) kiss on my cheek, and given me back half the fare.


It was a generous, kind gesture but, had the journey proved terminal, the likelihood is that I would still have remained well catered for. Funeral parlours in Albania are commonplace, jaunty establishments. They leave the door open and the radio on and are more ubiquitous, say, than fast-food restaurants, and about on a par with pet shops, lending the impression that Albanians die more often than other people (having eaten fewer hamburgers and bought many canaries). Statistically this is highly improbable, and the more likely explanation is that both private enterprise and public mourning, in a ceremonial sense, were denied them for so long.

more: http://www.newstatesman.com/print/200805010034