President of the US, Bill Clinton, asks the US Congress ALBANIA, WITH FAVORED-NATION STATUS...

US President Bill Clinton, during this May, supported the unconditional extension of treatment of Albania as the most-favored nation in trade relations with the US, according to the spokesperson for Albania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The US president stated that Albania is in full compliance with the requirements of Chapter IV’s Freedom of Emigration provisions of the Trade Act of 1974, known as the “Jackson-Vanik Amendment.” Following the decision made by the US administration, Congress is expected to approve the relevant law concerning the treatment of Albania with most-favored-nation status. The US administration will coordinate its work with Congress to pass this law in due course, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced. This designation will further strengthen trade relations between the US and Albania. In this context, the US will also contribute to Albania’s membership in the World Trade Organization.

Once again, Serbian police, backed by armored vehicles and equipped with rubber batons, violently dispersed yesterday a previously announced demonstration by Albanian students in Prishtina. Around 20,000 Albanian students were attacked by Serbian police shortly before the protest was due to begin, in an effort to prevent them from gathering in central Prishtina. The students tried to make their way into the city center to protest once again for the return of their school buildings, occupied by the Serbian authorities for seven years. For this reason, before they set out, the students had been threatened by the Serbian police, and police forces equipped with automatic weapons used batons and other means to disperse the young people, who were trying to reach the city center and each carrying a book as a symbolic gesture. Only around 2,000 protesters, according to an AFP estimate, had managed to break through the obstacles, gather in front of the Palace of the Press in Prishtina, and read aloud a text setting out their demands and insisting on the “non-political” and “non-violent” nature of their movement. Other groups of young people had also managed to read this text at various locations on the outskirts of Prishtina, while being pursued by police, foreign news agencies reported. Sources from the Student Union reported arrests among the protesters, but the number of those detained and mistreated by police is still unknown. Meanwhile, news agencies reported that, after the demonstrations, US diplomat Nikolas Hill, who had closely observed the peaceful demonstrations by Albanian students, met with President Rugova and strongly condemned the brutal Serbian police violence against the Albanian students, who, he said, had in no way provoked it. 1997 passed, and education was not restored. The Serbian rule of Millosheviç did not change anything in its longstanding conservative and nationalist stance, further convincing the West that the democratization of Serbia and the Europeanization of the Balkans are being held hostage in Belgrade. Frano Çaka Yesterday in Prishtina. Serbian violence blocks peaceful protesters (ROJTER)

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