The Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, His Beatitude Stefan, sent an Easter Message to all Orthodox Christians in the country, on the occasion of the Day of Christ's Resurrection - Easter Day.

 

He pointed out that Easter is not a holiday of the past, or an average event in the history. The Christ's resurrection has more significance than anything else and is above everything else.

 

"The Macedonian people celebrates its Christianity in centuries now, experiencing the joy of Christ's resurrection, for it is a confirmation for our resurrection as well and a guarantee for our survival. We, the people and the church, have endured so many Golgotha-affairs, sufferings and crucifixions.

 

Still, we were able to get over through our faith in Jesus Christ, who encouraged us to move on. Therefore, let's not loose hope and faith that some better, more joyful and more peaceful days, filled with mutual confidence and understanding are yet to come," said the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, His Beatitude Stefan in his Easter Message.

 

He appealed to the believers to think of each other, reminding them also "not to forget the kidnapped and captured co-citizens, to pray for those who were killed or for those who suffer and to forgive each other.

 

 

 

In the village of Dolno Orizari near Bitola a memory park in honor of the eight Macedonian defenders killed near Vejce was opened on Sunday. The eight members of the Macedonian security forces were massacred by the Albanian terrorists. last year.

 

One of the killed defenders, Bosko Najdovski, lived in Dolno Orizari. The local community building is also named after him.

 

 

Muammar Gaddafi Receives Foreign Minister Solomon Passy.

Tripoli, May 5 (BTA special correspondent Zoya Hristova) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is following the trial of the six Bulgarian medical workers charged with intentionally infecting Libyan children with HIV and breaking the conventions of life in Libya. He is familiar with the trial in detail and believes it is heading in the right direction, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy said. He was received by the Libyan leader Sunday noon. Gaddafi welcomed him very warmly and hugged him. The meeting, which lasted about 40 minutes, took place in Gaddafi's tent near his native town of Sirte, where he receives important guests.

Talking about the trial of the Bulgarian medical workers, Gaddafi described the Libyan court's actions as adequate and its decisions as correct. At its latest sitting on February 17, the court quashed the charge of plotting against the Libyan State and transferred the case to an ordinary prosecution office.

The conversation centred on the trial of nurses Kristiana Vulcheva, Nassya Nenova, Valentina Siropoulo, Valya Chervenyashka and Snezhana Dimitrova and Dr Zdravko Georgiev, charged with intentionally infecting 393 Libyan children with HIV.

Gaddafi said it was a good thing that Passy visited on Saturday the infectious diseases hospital in Benghazi, where some of the children infected with AIDS are treated.

Each side should look at the other side's tragedy, the Bulgarian foreign minister said. Just as the September 11 tragedy brought East and West closer together, and earthquakes did this for Greece and Turkey, so can the tragedy of 413 families in Benghazi on the one hand, and of the six Bulgarian medical workers on the other hand, bring out the good qualities of both sides, Passy said.

 

Gaddafi said Bulgaria's reputation in Libya should be restored.

Passy underlined the great contribution of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations and its leader Saif al-Islam to the favourable turn in the trial. On the whole, the Foundation has done much in the way of clarifying the circumstances of the infection, Gaddafi said.

The two discussed the UN's future and the reform of its Security Council.

 

Passy said the UN structure reflected the world after World War II: the world has changed, but the UN has not.

Gaddafi asked when Bulgaria would join NATO and how the North Atlantic Alliance would enlarge. Passy talked about its new mission.

The situation in the Middle East was also on the agenda.

Just as the military alliance between France and Germany ended their hostility, so can a strong alliance between Israel and Palestine defend their common interests and their security, Passy said. Peace will come only after Israel and the Palestinians start defending each other, instead of each side defending itself against the other, according to him.

 

The possibility to resume flights between Sofia and Tripoli was also discussed.

 

Bulgaria's Hemus Air is interested in it.

The meeting was attended by Libyan Foreign Minister Abd al-Rahman Shalgam and Bulgarian Ambassador Lyudmil Spassov and Petko Dimitrov, head of the Foreign Ministry's Middle East and Africa Directorate.

This is the second time in four months that the Libyan leader has received the Bulgarian foreign minister. They first met on December 22 during Passy's working visit to Tripoli.

Returning from Sirte, Passy talked for about an hour with the Minister of Justice and Public Security Mohamed Ali Al-Masirati. He formerly headed the People's Prosecution Bureau which brought charges against the six Bulgarians.

 

 

 

President Georgi Purvanov Promotes Five Officers on the Eve of Bulgarian Army Day.

 

Sofia, May 5 (BTA) - President Georgi Purvanov, who is also Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, promoted five officers on the eve of May 6, celebrated as the Day of Valour and the Day of the Bulgarian Army.

Colonel Yordan Yordanov, commander of the 61st mechanized brigade, was promoted brigadier general. Colonel Dinko Ivanov, commander of the 24th helicopter air base, was promoted brigadier general. Major General Kiril Tsvetkov, Chief of the Land Forces Staff, was promoted lieutenant general.

 

Captain Plamen Manoushev, commander of the Varna naval base, was promoted brigadier admiral. Colonel Alexander Alexandrov, Bulgaria's second cosmonaut, a reserve officer, was promoted brigadier general.

 

Purvanov congratulated the officers on their promotion, adding that recognition brought on new responsibilities. "Along with the other Bulgarian military commanders, generals and admirals, you must shoulder the burden of accelerated military reform, the creation of maximum prerequisites for a modernized, fighting-fit, strong Bulgarian army, which will be able to perform its constitutional tasks in protecting national security," Purvanov said. He is confident that the Bulgarian servicemen will manage to show their future and potential NATO partners that the Bulgarian armed forces can do just as well as the armed forces of bigger nations.

Later on Purvanov and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha reviewed the representative Bulgarian Army units which are to take part in the May 6 parade marking the Day of Valour and the Day of the Bulgarian Army.

 

 

 

Interior Ministry's Boiko Borissov: US Government Agencies Give Bulgarian Special Services High Marks, Will Help Bulgaria Join NATO.

 

Sofia, May 5 (BTA) - The US federal government agencies give very high marks to the Bulgarian special services and will help Bulgaria in every possible way to join NATO, Interior Ministry Chief Secretary Boiko Borissov said on his return from New York and Washington on Sunday. He was there at the invitation of the US federal government agencies.

 

The US will help Bulgaria very much to become a NATO member, but Bulgaria must do its job.

 

At the New York centre on bomb terrorism, Borissov discussed international terrorism, the FBI's work in the Balkans and Eastern Europe and the possible setting up of an FBI bureau in Bulgaria, similar to the one in Athens. "We agreed that they would have an agent based in Bulgaria so we could always be in touch," Borissov said.

 

The Bulgarian delegation went to the site of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

 

In Washington, the delegation held a meeting at the Secret Service where the sides talked about a recently eliminated printer's office near Varna, which forged banknotes and had been under surveillance by the Americans since 1995. "I had been left with the impression that we eliminated it at the very start," Borissov said. That printing office made Bulgaria the world's second biggest source of counterfeit banknotes, which were also of the best quality in the world.

 

The US Secret Service protects the US President and other persons, but is also under the umbrella of the Treasury Department since it deals with currency issues, Borissov said.

 

The Pope visited the US in 1996, that is why Borissov was briefed on the security precautions taken at the time. They are identical with those Bulgaria is taking in the run-up to the Pope's May 23-26 visit, according to Borissov.

 

General Dimiter Vladimirov, chief of the National Bodyguard Service, will bear the brunt of the security measures as only six security people will come from Italy. Physical protection will be provided by the National Bodyguard Service, while the Interior Ministry will be responsible for checking the routes and the venues and all the rest, Borissov said.

 

The Bulgarian delegation held a meeting at the US Drug Enforcement Agency, which operates worldwide. It highly appreciated Bulgaria's efforts to combat drug trafficking.

 

"Bulgaria has the highest approval rating in the fight against illicit drugs now," Borissov said.

 

 

 

Gorbachev Met at Sofia Airport by Fans Carrying Slogan "Thank You for Change/Chance"

 

Sofia, May 5 (BTA) - Fans met ex-Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev at Sofia Airport with a slogan reading "Thank you for the change/chance". "I believe Bulgaria stands a great chance of renewal," he said. "I'm talking as Gorbachev, not as a representative of the Russian government," he said on his arrival on Sunday.

 

Asked about his views on the NATO membership bids of the East European countries in general and Bulgaria in particular, Gorbachev said this was a complicated process. "If the process is accompanied by the creation of new dividing lines and misunderstanding, if some are admitted and others are not, if there is an attempt at confrontation, nothing good will come out of it."

 

"I think that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a newcomer to big politics.

 

He went through many trials but came out strong. I must say that Putin has done more than I expected," Gorbachev said.

 

Gorbachev is optimistic about the future of Bulgarian-Russian relations.

 

"Everything has normalized and relations will be what they should be: friendly and fraternal."

 

Gorbachev arrived at the invitation of Euro-Left leader Alexander Tomov. His third visit here ends on May 8.

 

 

By the BBC's Mike Donkin
In Northern Albania

 

There are 72 people in what the Laciy family call their "tribe".

 

They live in the beautiful mountains of northern Albania, but for nearly four years they have not dared stray beyond the gates of their yard because a "gjakmarrya" - a blood feud - has been declared against them. One of their sons killed a man and so, under an ancient code revived in these remote valleys, the victim's family must take revenge against any of the killer's male relatives.

 

It means the women must farm the land and that even a 10-month-old boy, born "locked in", will eventually be a target unless the feud is resolved. So cousins Zecir and Gentian, who are 16, cannot go to school or play football with their friends.

 

"If we went outside these walls we know they'd find us with their guns," Zecir says. "This is no life for us. Maybe we can escape to Europe illegally."

 

Indoors and out of the line of fire the men are smoking and drinking raki as they meet with a team of peace missionaries who are trying to broker an end to the feud.

 

The killer's father, Lan Laciy, says he prays they succeed.

 

"Our enemies have punished us enough. None of us men can work" he says.

 

"We are already ruined as a tribe."

 

Huge task.

 

The missionaries, who are funded by Britain's Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod), have a huge task on their hands.

 

This is one of hundreds of blood feuds which are blighting the lives of thousands of people in Albania.

 

"We have to change peoples' mentality here," the missionaries' leader Emin Spahia says.

 

"But we know it won't be easy because we are asking them to set aside traditions they have upheld for 600 years."

 

Those traditions are based on the Kanun Law drawn up in the 15th Century by feudal leader Lek Dugajine. His code states that if one man kills another "blood should always be avenged by blood" and lays down precise rules for how.

 

Kanun Law was suppressed by Albania's harsh Communist regime but revived when it collapsed in 1991 because in the mountains the laws of the weak new government are rarely enforced.

 

State Security Director Neritan Cekas insists the authorities are doing all they can to stamp out blood feuds.

 

"We have seized many weapons," he says. "And we tell citizens that this traditional law should now be just history.

 

Bad impression.

 

"Blood feud killings give a very bad impression of our country - especially at a time when Albania wants to attract more foreign investors and we hope to join the European Union."

 

The government is relying on the peace missionaries to intervene where it cannot by holding a series of village meetings in the north where the whole community is urged to "swear to abstain" from blood feuds.

 

These can become emotional gatherings.

 

In Kelmend, missionary Emin Spahija held up a file of pictures of children, all of whose fathers were murdered under the Kanun. "Set the code aside," he pleaded. "It brings only pain."

 

One villager asked, "Why should we? When the state is not doing its job in punishing the guilty."

 

Another shouted: "It is not for the state to forgive my son's killer. That is for me to decide."

 

Kelmend's villagers did finally vote "yes" to setting up a pilot zone where blood feuds will be outlawed - but the show of hands was far from unanimous.

 

After the meeting we tested the mood by calling on both sides in one bitter feud.

 

We called first on Ardiana Preka, whose husband was killed and whose men folk have sworn to avenge him.

 

After feeding the animals with her children Ardiana went to put a fresh rose on their father's shrine.

 

'Hard to forgive'

 

We asked her: Did she too want more blood spilled? "In these matters the women do not decide that" she said. "But it will be hard for our men to forgive."

 

We then crossed the village to the house of the man who killed Ardiana's husband and then fled.

 

Behind the steel railings the women and the daughters of the Emur family dug vegetables. On the porch Marc Emur, who is 70, cleaned his hunting rifle.

 

"For now I must be ready," he said. "But we ask the Preka tribe to forgive us so that all of our children and all of theirs can grow up without their lives being threatened. One day all this must end."

 

Finally we took that plea back to the Preka's farm.

 

Prek Preka, the father of the feud victim, would not talk long about the duty to kill by which he is now bound. He said simply, "These are necessary things."

 

In the mountains of northern Albania when it comes to a choice between a nation's progress and a family's honour - for now there is little contest. The old ways prevail.