Belgrade - Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said that the security and safety situation in the municipalities of Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja was satisfactory, despite the occasional political provocations.

He said at the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs that the police, despite certain political provocations, was trying to respond only when the security and  safety of the citizens was threatened. Minister Stefanovic also said that the police didn’t differentiate between the citizens on the basis of their ethnic backgrounds and that it treated everyone in the same manner.  

According to him, the police assisted in “disconnecting electricity” to both Serbs and Albanians and in the seizing smuggled tobacco from members of both ethnic groups.

“We don’t make a selection among the people by their nationality, while a person who commits a criminal offense shall be arrested”, said Minister Stefanovic.

Source: “Tanjug” news agency and Coordination Body

Belgrade, Vranje – With the aim of combating the illegal market of tobacco products , the British American Tobacco (BAT ) company organized at its plant in Vranje a training course for civil servants whose activities include the fight against the illegal trade in these products. Members of the tax and customs administrations, as well as of the intelligence agencies, of the countries in the region, attended lectures and demonstration exercises and actively participated in the workshops, to which the company had invited the most eminent regional experts in the field, it was said in the company’s statement. 

Vranje – The National Employment Branch Office in Vranje informs the public that a job fair is to be organized on its premises and invites all unemployed persons to visit it. The fair will be held from 11 am to 2 pm on December 2, 2014, whereas over one hundred jobs will be offered by thirteen employers.

As part of the project “Support to Improving the Living Conditions of Forced Migrants and  Closing Down of Collective Centers’ (IPA 12),  a preliminary list of 10 beneficiaries that will get prefabricated houses was adopted  at the third session of the Commission for the Selection of Beneficiaries of Prefabricated Houses in Bujanovac.

Skoplje/Belgrade – According to the regional media, the Macedonian companies have lately started to discontinue doing business operations in Macedonia and to relocate them to Serbia, because there are numerous financial facilities for them there.

In early November, a case of domestic violence committed in the Pcinj district resulted in one killed woman. Since the beginning of the year, twenty-three women and twenty-four children have been cared for at the reception point in Vranje. On the International Day of the Elimination of Violence against Women, representatives of the SOS help-line, the Center for Social Work and the police talked in Bujanovac about the prevention of violence.

Yesterday, Jonuz Musliju was elected by a majority vote as the new President of the National Council of the Albanian national minority in Bujanovac. Eight council members voted for the election of Mr. Musliju, the former political commissar of the so-called Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, while seven of them left the session, because of, as they put it, procedural violations.

Presevo - By controlling the train at the railway station in Presevo, the attempt of 11 immigrants to illegally cross the border was prevented.

The Customs Administration announced that early in the morning the train running from Greece to Germany arrived at the Serbian border and that one of the wagons had a trailer whose canvas was torn. The damaged canvas caused suspicion of the customs officers who, in cooperation with the police, opened the wagon and found 11 illegal travellers in it. 

Slobodan Draskovic, the Mayor of Medvedja, unexpectedly passed away on Sunday afternoon at his native village of Vrapce at the age of 52.  

According to the unconfirmed information, Mr. Draskovic died of the consequences of a heart attack.

On the occasion of the death of our esteemed associate, on my behalf and on behalf of the employees of the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, I express our sincerest condolences  to the family of Slobodan Draskovic and to his associates in the municipality of Medvedja.  With his death, we lost a sincere and dedicated colleague. 

Prof. Zoran Stankovic, PhD