Page 40 - AACL 25th anniversary

Anniversary Celebration of
Albanian American Civic League
Sami Azemi, and other leaders of the Liberation Army of Presheva, Medvegje, and Bujanovc (UCPMB) at their headquarters in Koncul to discuss their peace plan.
July The Civic League Hosts an
December The Civic League Holds
The National Security Council Convenes a Meeting at the White House with the Help of the Albanian American Civic League
Evening in Honor of General Wesley Clark
Historic Meeting with Senator Biden in Manhattan
diplomatic resolution of the crisis in Macedonia.
War crimes investigators establish that Milosevic ordered the bodies of hundreds of civilians murdered in Kosova to be exhumed, driven to Serbia in refrigerated trucks, and reburied in secret mass graves. Prosecutors believe that the evidence will help prosecutors secure a life sentence at the end of the trial in The Hague. The Civic League is instrumental in determining the fate of three Albanian American brothers who were U.S. citizens (Agron, Mehmet, and Ylli Bytyqi), whose bodies are discovered in a mass grave in Petrovo Selo, Serbia.
Slobodan Milosevic goes on trial in The Hague, facing 66 counts on three indictments for genocide and war crimes spanning a decade in Bosnia, and crimes against humanity in Croatia and Kosova. On February 15, in his opening statement, Milosevic attacks and defames the Albanian American Civic League and Joe DioGuardi for supporting “Albanian terrorism and separatism” in Kosova and for making “a great contribution to the systematic expansion of the anti-Serb mood and the ‘Satanisation’ of the Serb people in the American public opinion.”
The Civic League works from March to November, meeting almost every week in Washington with members of Congress, the State Department, and the NSC, to make sure they understand that granting Albanians their rights is the only way to end the Macedonian conflict and that Albanian leaders Arben Xhaferi and Ali Ahmeti hold the keys to a peaceful solution.
2001
2002
April 2001
Civic League Delegation Goes to Tirana to Promote Democracy Building
August Congressman Gilman
April DioGuardi and Cloyes Meet
2001
2001
Returning to Washington as the war breaks out in Macedonia, Cloyes writes a major article, “Resolving the Crisis in Macedonia,” which is applauded by Ambassador James Dobbins, then Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs. The NSC asks the Civic League to select leaders in the Albanian American community to attend a meeting at the White House to discuss the need for a
On the occasion of the publication of his book, Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosova, and the Future of Combat, the Civic League hosts a reception and book signing for Clark, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. The Civic League gives Clark its first Balkan Peace Award.
Milosevic’s Cover-Up of Mass Murder in Kosova Is Revealed
Senator Biden meets for three hours with Civic League Board members and supporters at the Columbus Club in Manhattan to analyze the history of U.S.government response to the Balkan conflict and to discuss a strategy for convincing the Bush administration not to withdraw U.S. troops from Kosova and not to take a back seat to Europe in Macedonia.
Meets with the Civic League and Albanian leaders from the Presheva Valley in New York
with Milosevic’s Prosecutors in The Hague
2002
DioGuardi and Cloyes travel to The Hague in The Netherlands, where DioGuardi is interviewed by the Office of the Chief Prosecutor at the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia as the final step to becoming a witness against Slobodan Milosevic at his trial in The Hague.
February Milosevic Goes on Trial in
The Hague
Joe DioGuardi and members of the Civic League travel to Tirana to promote greater participation by the people of Albania in the June parliamentary elections and to focus international attention on the unresolved problems in election laws and procedures.
The Civic League brings Presheva Mayor Riza Halimi, Ternoc Mayor Galip Beqiri, and Shaip Kamberi, head of the Center for Human Rights in Bujanovc, to meet with Congressman Gilman for a three-hour discussion of ongoing human rights abuses by Serbian authorities and the deterioration of the peace implementation process in the Presheve Valley. Gilman responds with a forceful letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
2001
2001
June Milosevic Is Surrendered to
2001
Earlier, Cloyes, at the request of the ICTY, had submitted a detailed testimony in writing in response to 300 pages of Milosevic’s opening statements, in which he blamed NATO and the West for the atrocities and genocide that he committed in Bosnia and Kosova.
The War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague and Is Charged with Genocide
September The Civic League
The Civic League is Called to Washington to Meet with the New U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia
In a great triumph for the victims of war crimes and genocide in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosova, Slobodan Milosevic is transferred to the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague on June 28.
Participates in Kosova’s First National Elections
Senator Joseph Biden Holds His First Hearing as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Crisis in Macedonia
A delegation of Civic League Board members participate in the pre-election and Election Day process in Kosova’s first national elections and hold a press conference at the Illyria Hotel on key issues facing Albanians in the Balkans.
At the request of Larry Butler, the new U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia, and Ambassador James Holmes, the new U.S. envoy to the Stability Pact, the Civic League brings a delegation to Washington to discuss the roots of the Macedonian conflict and the implementation of the Oher peace agreement.
November The International War Crimes
The Civic League Hosts a “Salute to Albanian Freedom” on the 12th Anniversary of the Historic April 28, 1990, Sheraton Dinner
DioGuardi and Cloyes attend Senator Biden’s first hearing as the new Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on “The Crisis in Macedonia and U.S. Engagement in the Balkans.” Cloyes and DioGuardi begin intensive work with Biden’s foreign policy staff to challenge Bush administration policy on the Balkans.
Tribunal charges Milosevic with genocide against Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats in Bosnia- Herzegovina.
The Albanian American Civic Leagues hosts a delegation of Albanian leaders from all Albanian lands in the Balkans to salute Albanian freedom with Senator Joe Biden and Congressmen Ben Gilman and Tom Lantos on the 12th
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Saluting Albanian Religious Tolerance in an Age of Intolerance