Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Kosovo government allocates funds for KLA war veterans

Prishtina [Pristina], 5 July: During today's meeting, the government decided to allocate 50,000 euros for war veterans of the Kosova [Kosovo] Liberation Army [KLA; UCK in Albanian].

This decision follows the request of the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Ibrahim Selmanaj.

Selmanaj had requested 25,000 euros but the government decided to double the amount.

After the meeting, government spokesperson Daut Dauti told the media that all ministries would contribute to the fund.

He also said that distribution would take place through associations of war veterans.

The government did not decide today about the allocation of 200,000 euros for the construction of houses for Roma in Mitrovice [Kosovska Mitrovica]. Dauti said that the decision has been postponed until sources for the fund have been found.

Dauti also reported that pilot projects for the creation of new municipalities will begin as soon as the documentation is completed.

"It will start soon. SRSG [Special Representative of the Secretary General] Soeren Jessen-Petersen must still sign a document and he is expected to do so in a few days," Dauti said.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess there is a lot of drug money to fly around and 70% of the people are unmployed.
Good choice - keep on!

Anonymous said...

Yeah. Give the money you have recieved from US and EU to KLA and not to build houses for the ones in real need. Very nice. The world is watching. I heard that 20+ diplomats were very pissed on the KLA honour guard. This is something you have in a stabile, respectful, honourable country. Not in a criminal, unstable and "no one knows how it will be" small province in the very rural of Europe.

Teddie Bee

Anonymous said...

Chris,

One of the main reasons why Serbia is against Kosova's independence (other than the mines and natural wealth) is the fact that they WILL be held responsible for the war reparations for all the damages they have caused to the civilian properties during their ordeal in Kosova in the nineties.

Cousin D!

Anonymous said...

Irony of the century:
1. war veterans are respected all over the world, but here they got (finally) something ... 3 cans of Fanta (sorry Chris)

2.some of the RAE (roma, ashkali, egyptians) stole the properties of kosovar albanians during the war ... and they got 200.000 euros.

3.the government of KS is spending quite some budget money (read: also my and my family income taxes) for reconstruction of serbian houses, and they are renting them to foreigners.
I'm asking myself if the Serbian government is doing the same thing with KS albanians?
There's an serbian association who is promoting the idea of arraignments of serbs toward albanians. Among a lot of them (cannot remember the figures) there was also one about destroyed serb chicken house and the guy is asking for indemnity !

O tempora, o mores ...

By DoubleK.

Anonymous said...

Besides, these are war veterans we're talking about. Most of them unemployed and 3 cans of Fanta are truly a great help. Although its only symbolic, its a good sign that those that fought for Kosovar independence have not been forgoten.

Let's talk compensation with Serbia and see that country go bankrupt.

To the second poster: a few diplomants may be pissed but Kosova needs an army given that its on the border with Serbia, a country that has proven its thirst for blood...

Anonymous said...

Besides, tell me how much money have Serb "veterans" received? Answer is very very little, which shows that most of the money in Serbia ends up in criminal pockets. The sad thing is you can't even call these people veterans since most of them are paramilitary criminals and police.

The fact that there is at least some money going for KLA veterans shows that (even though the budget is quite small) ppl have respect for people, unlike in Serbia.