Albania

Albanian officials are refusing to cooperate with a probe into alleged organ trafficking during the Kosovo conflict. Referring to the accusations, Albanian officials told investigator Dick Marty that “there can be no organ trade probe based on the accusations of Carla Del Ponte or Belgrade,” Serbia’s Beta news agency reports.

BELGRADE Chairman of the Coordination Body for Southern Serbia Milan Marković says the recent ethnic Albanian declaration “will not solve any problems”. The body deals with issues in the southern municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa, where Serbia’s largest population of ethnic Albanians outside of Kosovo itself lives.

The new head of NATO has said that its Kosovo force could be completely withdrawn within four years. Anders Rasmussen, NATO’s new secretary general, said he wanted to see Kosovo Force, KFOR, “reduced to just a small reaction force, or out altogether” within his four-year term.

Ethnic Albanian officials in southern Serbia have launched a new initiative for the formation of a separate region in the Presevo Valley with its own institutions and organs. The proposal was raised in the assembly of the Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac municipalities and envisages the creation of an ethnic Albanian-led …

TIRANA, Albania The Muslim community has expressed today against homosexual marriages, while the bill is drafted to a serious breach of morality, which conflict with the Albanian traditions. Law drafters for the people, stated that article made marriage for men asked Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who gave the ‘bomb’ news …

Albania’s religious leaders said Thursday that they rejected a government proposal to extend marriage rights to gay couples. Speaking to local daily Gazeta Shqiptare, the head of Albania’s Muslim community, Shkelqim Muca, rejected the proposal, arguing that, in his community’s view, gay marriage was unacceptable. 

TIRANA, Albania Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha said on Tuesday (July 28th) he is optimistic that the EU will evaluate Albania for visa liberalisation this year and “will open the doors for Albanians” soon. Visiting Brussels, Basha said the EU is focused on further enlargement. On Monday, local media reports suggested …

Albania will quintuple its military deployment in Afghanistan ahead of parliamentary elections in the central Asian country. “Albania has decided to increase its contribution to the alliance forces in Afghanistan, ahead of the August poll, [which are] seen as crucial for the country,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a …

Kosovo Albanian Hysen Sherifi has been charged in the US alongside six others in connection with an international terror plot, which included a potential attack on Kosovo. The 24 year old, who is a US resident, was indicted in Raleigh, North Carolina, for attempting to engage in ‘violent jihad’, the …

TIRANA, Albania The EU is postponing its evaluation of Albania’s application for candidate status due to the prolonged election process in the country, local media reported on Monday (July 27th). Voters went to the polls a month ago, but the final results are still pending, due to challenges raised by …