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Kosovo Town Declares Emergency over ‘Contaminated Water’ Scare

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July 13, 202113:58– – Authorities in the western Kosovo town of Decan/Decani declared a state of emergency after more than 880 people were suspected to have fallen ill after drinking contaminated water.

BY Drenushe Ramadani and Xhorxhina Bami/ BIRN/

“A state of emergency has been declared on the entire territory of the municipality of Decan,” said the text of an official decision made by the mayor of Decan/Decani, Bashkim Ramosaj, on Tuesday.

Ramosaj said he made the decision because more than 880 people are suspected to have fallen ill as a result of drinking contaminated water in the municipality over the past two days.

Local residents in the villages of Prejlep, Rastavica, Irzniq, Gllogjan, Shaptej, Gramaqel, Baballoq, Ratisha and Jasic i Ri claimed they have suffered from diarrhea, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.

The spokesperson for the Basic Prosecution in Peja/Pec, Shkodran Nikci, told BIRN on Tuesday that two people have died and their bodies have been sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for autopsy to see if they were poisoned.

But Kosovo’s Health Minister Arben Vitia then told media that the two deaths “are not related to the [suspected water contamination] situation”.

Suspicions have been raised that the reported illnesses were caused by drinking water supplied by a company called Hidrodrini.

Based on these suspicions, the prosecution said that the Hidrodrini company’s water should not be used for drinking purposes in ten villages in Decan/Decani.

The first results of tests on the water have come back normal, however. The National Institute of Public Health, NIPH, is conducting further tests, the results of which will be known within 48 hours at the latest.

“So far, I assess that according to the first results, chemically there is no problem with the drinking water, the water is usable but we are waiting for more analysis,” the director of NIPH, Naser Ramadani, told Kosovo media on Monday.

The Hidrodrini company said in a statement on Tuesday that it stopped the water supply the moment that reports that people had fallen ill appeared.

But it said that “after a meeting of the Municipal Emergency Headquarters of Decan, it was decided that from 1pm, the supply from the water supply system for the area in question will be restored” .

However, it cautioned that despite this decision, the water should “not be used for drinking, but only for sanitary and hygienic needs” for the moment.

Mayor Ramosaj told media on Monday the estimated number of people who could have been affected was 884, although there is no officially-published data.

“We will not stop until we find out why it happened, this poisoning ….in the municipality of Decan, where so far there are 884 patients who have the same symptoms,” Ramosaj said.

He also said that this was “the second time in a month that the same scenario is being reported”.

One man, Zenel Kadriaj from the village of Rastavica, told BIRN that the water was coloured and had a large amount of chlorine in it.

But another man, Hysni Alickaj from the village of Irzniq, said that his five daughters fell ill but not as a result of drinking water because he does not have a water supply system in the house.

Ramadani, the director of NIPH, also told media there are people who have displayed symptoms but who have not consumed water supplied by Hidrodrini at all.

Edi Rama Declares Victory in Albanian General Elections

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Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama declared victory for his Socialist Party and called for a public celebration as the counting of votes from the weekend’s bitterly-contested parliamentary elections draws to a close.

By Fjori Sinoruka*

Edi Rama wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that his party has won the parliamentary elections and called on his supporters and “whoever wants to join us celebrate the victory” to attend a celebration in the evening in Tirana’s central square despite concerns about the spreading of the coronavirus.

According to the latest results from Albania’s Central Election Commission, CEC, after around 95 per cent of the votes have been counted, Rama’s Socialist Party, which has stayed in power for the last eight years, has won 72 to 73 seats in the 140-seat parliament.

This gives Rama another slight majority in parliament, as the Socialist Party takes an unprecedented third term in the country since its first multi-party elections three decades ago.

Lulzim Basha’s main opposition Democratic Party, which led an election alliance of several smaller parties called the Alliance for Change, as well as the Social Movement for Integration, led by Monika Kryemadhi, the wife of the Albanian president, Ilir Meta, seem set to remain in opposition.

Together these two opposition blocs, which have announced a possible post-election alliance should they win, are projected to have 63 to 64 seats.

President Ilir Meta, who was the head of the Social Movement for Integration before he was elected president in 2017, and sided with the opposition during the tense election campaign, called for “prudence and calm” while waiting for all the votes to be counted.

“Although I was alone in the face of all the captured institutions, I managed to make [election day on] April 25 a quiet, peaceful day, without scenes of violence and with your massive participation to exercise the right to vote. Although it seemed an impossible challenge, I am happy that April 25 could serve the democracy and stability of the country,” Meta said on Tuesday.

Despite an election campaign that was marred by confrontational rhetoric and violence, including the murder of a local politician, only minor incidents were reported by police on polling day on Sunday.

The relative surprise in the election was a small party called the Social-Democratic Party, which was led by Tom Doshi, who has collaborated with Rama in the past.

The Social-Democratic Party is projected to win three seats in parliament. But after Doshi’s surprise resignation from the party helm on Monday, the seats it won are expected to boost Rama’s majority.

Doshi has been mentioned several times by the US ambassador to Tirana, Yuri Kim, as a politician who is banned from entering the US due to allegations of “significant corruption”. Rama was previously urged not to collaborate with Doshi, as he has resigned, the path to collaboration with the Social-Democratic Party seems open.

A report by international election monitors from OSCE/ODHIR said the voting on Monday and the counting process were accompanied only by smaller omissions and incidents. However, the report noted that vote-buying remains a serious problem in Albania, among other issues.

“The tone of the language used during the campaign by some leading politicians was confrontational, and at the same time, the media did not provide essential information for the voters to make their choice. The prevalence of vote buying throughout the country was also of concern,” it said.

The turnout in the elections haven’t been published yet, but according to the election commission’s last update, it was higher than at the 2017 general elections.

*Balkan Insight