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Kosovo Albanian shot dead in Prague during demonstration
An ethnic Albanian from Kosovo was shot dead on Monday in Prague
during a demonstration that was held to call for the Yugoslav
government sign the NATO peace accord and for Serb forces to pull
out of Kosovo. The alleged killer was
detained on the spot by the police. Nick Carey has more...
The demonstration in Prague on Monday on Namesti Miru, the Square
of Peace, was organised by several human rights' agencies. The aim
of the gathering was to call for the Serbs to sign the NATO peace
accord, and for Serb forces to halt operations in the Yugoslav
province of Kosovo.
Right from the start, however, there were violent incidents between
Serbs and Albanians at the demonstration, with fights breaking out
over banners in favour of and against the NATO bombings in the
former Yugoslavia.
Following a bomb threat, the event was halted by the police, who
began clearing the square. It was then that the killing took place.
The two men involved were apparently arguing, when the attacker
shot the other man at point blank range in the chest, and then
fired two more shots into his body as he fell to the ground.
BBC correspondent Tomas Pavlicek was interviewing an Albanian
representative just yards from where the shooting took place, and
this is a recording of the incident as it took place...
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Earlier I spoke to the spokesman for the centre-right Freedom Union
party, Martin Vanek, who was at the scene. He gave me an eye-
witness account of the killing...
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The victim was apparently a thirty nine year old Albanian
businessman who had only been in Prague for two days. The killer was immediately detained by security
forces.
So far, Czech President Vaclav Havel and the government have not
commented on the incident, due to a lack of information. Opposition
Civic Democratic Party leader and lower house speaker, Vaclav
Klaus, however, expressed his shock at the killing. He warned
against using this tragedy to settle political disputes here in the
Czech Republic.
Czech foreign minister explains
NATO has consulted the Czech Republic on both phases of
its air strikes against Yugoslavia that have happened
thus far. Prime Minister Milos Zeman and Minister of
Foreign Affairs Jan Kavan endorsed the Alliance's moves.
At least according to Mr. Kavan, who talked to
correspondents after Monday's cabinet session, which was
held behind closed doors and dealt with the situation in
and around Kosovo. Libor Kubik reports:
Foreign Minister Kavan said that the Czech government was not going
to mediate in any future talks between NATO and Yugoslavia. He said
that as a NATO member, this country must coordinate its actions
with the rest of the alliance.
But he stressed that the NATO activation order to bomb Yugoslavia
was received as early as October 12, but its execution was
subsequently frozen after talks with Richard Holbrooke and Slobodan
Milosevic. In January, the activation order was renewed and it
specified that the NATO Council delegates its powers to Secretary-
General Javier Solana, who at the same time was asked to consult
all the member states of the alliance. On March 19, Solana
contacted the Czech Foreign Ministry through this country's NATO
Ambassador Karel Kovanda. Kavan said he had taken Solana's stance
in consideration in view of the collapse of the peace talks in
Rambouillet.
"It would be naive to think that we would perhaps be able to use
the right to veto or block a decision at which NATO had arrived
after many months of carefully analysing the situation. After
consultations with Prime Minister Milos Zeman, I instructed our
NATO Ambassador Karel Kovanda to agree with the affirmative views
of all the other 18 members of the alliance."
Solana applied the same procedure also when NATO embarked on the
second phase of the air strikes, to which the Czech Republic has
also agreed. But Minister Kavan indicated that the situation
changed when a ground offensive was suggested. On that, he said,
there was appreciably less consensus among the allied nations...
Czech Republic, Portugal see eye to eye on key issues
Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has thrown his
weight in support of President Vaclav Havel's attempts to
bring about the much-needed reform of the European Union
and the Atlantic Alliance. He said during his meeting
with Havel at Prague Castle on Monday that the Czech
Republic, because of its strategic location in the heart
of Europe, is predetermined to share in the effort to
reform both organisations. More from Libor Kubik.
The premier of Portugal, which will chair the EU in the first half
of the year 2000, promised the Czech president to press for an EU
enlargement to take in the new democracies of central and eastern
Europe. This enlargement is envisaged by the Union's freshly
adopted Agenda 2000 document, endorsed by the EU's Berlin summit on
Friday. The document puts the Czech Republic on fast track towards
EU membership.
Guterres said both the EU and NATO were in need of change that
Prague could help effect.
A month ago, President Havel proposed enhancing the position of the
European Parliament, which he repeated in the wake of the recent
resignation of the European Commission. According to Havel,
strengthening the representative component would help Europe defend
itself against the Brussels bureaucrats.
Havel said on Monday that his country wants to participate in
shaping a new security strategy of NATO, to which the Czech
Republic acceded earlier this month.
Observers note that Havel said on the eve of his country's entry
into NATO on March 12 that for the alliance which for decades had
faced a clearly defined strategic enemy, it was necessary to reform
itself so as to be better able to face terrorism, organised crime
and regional conflicts such as the current one in Kosovo.
Both statesmen agreed NATO's air strikes against Milosevic are an
act of necessity as all diplomatic channels have been tried in
vain. According to President Havel, an equitable settlement in
Kosovo is possible only after the deployment of peace-keeping
forces with the consent of Yugoslavia.
United Nations' special human rights rapporteur on the former
Yugoslavia, Czech Jiri Dienstbier, strongly believes that a peace-
keeping force, with Russia figuring prominently, would be a far
better solution to the Yugoslav conflict than the ongoing aerial
bombardment of Serbian targets by NATO. Dienstbier said at the
weekend that the air attacks would only worsen the plight of Kosovo
Albanians.
Exhibition at Jewish Center
An exhibition of photographs from the Holocaust Memorial in
Miami, Florida was opened in the Prague Jewish Museum's Education
and Culture Center on Monday. Olga Szantova was there for the
event, and talked to the Center's director Dr. Milos Pojar. She
started the conversation by telling him she had seen the Miami
Holocaust Memorial and that it was an experience she could never
forget.
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"Ruslan" seized in Azerbaijan: Much Ado about Nothing?
On March 18th, Azeri authorities seized a Russian cargo plane carrying 6 MiG jet fighters, after it landed in the capital city, Baku, to refuel. Following several alarming speculations of its destination, it now turns out that the plane was on its way to Slovakia and that the Czech firm, Agroplast was behind the deal. Dita Asiedu has the details:
Documents which falsely stated that the plane was carrying 50 tonnes of scrap metal, the presence of several "suspicious" people on board, and the testimonies of some of them who initially claimed that the aircraft was en route for Yugoslavia, were enough to make Azeri customs officers weary and detain the plane. "We have detained a Russian "Ruslan" cargo plane which is carrying six jet fighters to Yugoslavia", Vafa Guluzade, advisor to the president of Azerbaijan told Reuters news agency earlier this week. First, it did look like Russia was supplying Yugoslavia with weapons despite the international arms embargo against Belgrade but now it seems that the Czech firm Agroplast which deals in weapons and military technology, is behind the whole affair.
Recently, the Kazakhstan Government admitted that in an agreement with Agroplast it was to transport the MiG fighter jets from Taldy-Kurgan, in Kazakhstan to Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia. According to a source from the Czech Consulate in Moscow, a representative of Agroplast travelled to Bako, to work with the state officials handling the case.
As a result of these developments and several statements made by Russian officials denying any Yugoslav connection, Azeri President, Geydar Aliyev, decided to halt the investigations and the "Ruslan" aircraft which belongs to the Russian company, Polyot, was handed over to Juri Luzkov, current mayor of Moscow as well as a hot candidate for the post of Russian president, to deliver the plane to the Russian authorities.
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