— INTERVIEW WITH MR. SABRI GODO, CHAIRMAN OF THE ALBANIAN REPUBLICAN PARTY, AND MR. GANI LEKA, SECRETARY OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE NEWSPAPER “REPUBLIKA” — On October 7, 1991, the President of the Republic summoned the leaders of the parties participating in the government, the Speaker of the People’s Assembly, the Prime Minister and several ministers. What was the reason? — According to the President’s invitation, the reason was the letter that the Republican Party had addressed to him, the Presidium of the People’s Assembly and the government, concerning recognition of the Republic of Kosovo. On this occasion, issues relating to the political situation would also be considered. — What was decided about recognition of the Republic of Kosovo? — After the analysis, we all agreed on concluding the activity aimed at having our government recognize the Republic of Kosovo. At our party’s request, it was also decided to seek, through peaceful means, the right of Albanians living in their own territories in Macedonia, Montenegro and Southeastern Serbia to determine their future. This was a reasonable and quite satisfactory conclusion for us. It is known that for two months the Republican Party has been conducting a nationwide petition on the issues I mentioned. The Çam issue, which had until now been ignored, was also discussed. — What other political issues were considered? — The Prime Minister gave a brief account of some current problems in the economic and social spheres, asking for the support of the political forces. As a participating party, we support the government of stability, but this does not deprive us of the right to express our views and criticize the government when its decisions are incomplete and do not correspond to the country’s interests. For example, we are wholly in favor of the land law, but it cannot be denied that this law has shortcomings that must be corrected through amendments and regulations, so that it better reflects the real situation and the particular characteristics of the regions and areas. Nor can it be denied that a certain new bureaucracy in the ministries is creating obstacles, especially in privatization and the attraction of foreign investment. We must be aware that in this regard we have taken a step backwards. — The meeting lasted from the morning until late at night. What else was discussed? — The three parties (PD, PR and PSD) considered it necessary to request a review of all the points in their joint declaration. In our view, a completely unpredictable situation has arisen. Mass rallies, demonstrations and peaceful protests have been held over the points in that declaration. The opposition press has written about them. But the President and the People’s Assembly have continued to maintain an unresponsive attitude. Nowhere in the world does it happen that 100,000 people gather in a city the size of Tirana and the President and parliament neither move, nor see, nor hear. In putting the declaration’s points up for discussion, the three parties proceeded from the fact that resolving them is closely connected with the current political situation and stability. Our effort was aimed at finding a common solution through understanding, with both sides abandoning offensive and defensive positions. — What was the reaction of the President and the others? — The President, the Speaker of the People’s Assembly and the chairman of the Socialist Party said that state laws are not made in the streets and city squares, and therefore we could not take into account either rallies or protests. This is a deliberately arrogant point of view. We are not seeking to dictate laws through rallies. On the contrary, we are demanding that the laws be implemented. — Can you give an example? — The first issue discussed was State Security. According to what the head of SHIK says, less than half of the former State Security cadres have transferred to this institution in an organized capacity. What happened to the other half? The Minister of Public Order says that 26 percent of the former State Security cadres have moved to his ministry. He then says that this 26 percent consists of six cadres at the center and six in the districts. Overall, there is a lack of clarity. As a way forward, it was agreed that this matter would be discussed in a parliamentary commission. But there is also the issue of secret security surveillance. The Minister of Public Order and the head of SHIK declare that Security, as an organization and function, will deal only with intelligence and counterintelligence, and not with keeping people under surveillance. It is difficult to separate these things. In any case, there must be full transparency, at least in the official structures. A rule must also be established that no former employee or collaborator of State Security may enter the ranks of members of parliament, ministers or political-party leaders, either at the center or at the grassroots. State Security was the terrible instrument of crime, the people’s nightmare. All these matters, therefore, will be dealt with by the parliamentary commission. We shall see. The abnormal situation at Radio-Television will likewise be addressed by a parliamentary commission. The renewal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, will be overseen by the government. — What was decided about the red star and the other emblems of communist rule? — I thought this would be the easiest point to resolve. But the President is calling for a popular referendum on removing them, or for a solution under the new constitution. I would gladly accept a referendum if it did not take time, as I have been asking for... This issue could very well be resolved in the Assembly of the Socialist Party. And we will continue to keep these emblems above us, whatever the circumstances, without asking whether the people want them or whether the world looks at us askance. “We don’t care about the world.” That brings something old to mind and (Continued on page 3)

Much has been said recently about motorway construction, agreements with companies and governments, and so on. Infrastructure problems in general have also become the subject of discussion by incompetent forums, at a time when specialists in the field are too few to have their say. Taking this fact as our starting point—and feeling that the subject is being somewhat overused, namely the construction of a motorway when Albania’s road network has fallen apart—and also considering that this area of transport infrastructure is one of the clearest indicators of the policy and outlook of the former Albanian totalitarian state, we will try to offer our views on the persistent distortions in this field, which is vital to the economy. Let us say from the outset: the sins and shortcomings in infrastructure and the road network over these 45 years (and indeed even before these 45 years) cannot be covered up by building a motorway, whatever it may be, however long and impressive. The main task of transport infrastructure is to create a platform for the rational development of movement, communications and transport, which are the basis of economic and social development. Since antiquity, thanks to its key geographical position and its road connections with the most important centers of the time, our country had been fortunate; that fortune did not smile on us in the Middle Ages, and, to our detriment, the same situation was imposed on us again during the last four or five decades. Our former allies, the Yugoslavs, Russians and Chinese, never invested in transport infrastructure, which is the key to opening up and connecting with the world. The general consequence of this state policy is that today we are not only the sole country in Europe without motorways, but our road network as a whole is also in a deplorable state. A paradox in the field of transport, for which we ourselves are responsible, is also demonstrated by these facts in particular: — Our best roads are those built during the First World War or shortly thereafter (notwithstanding the few small improvements made to them). — Although the country is rich in aggregates and bitumen (one year’s production could asphalt almost all of Albania’s roads), we are backward in this field, while even less developed countries have paved almost their entire road networks—not to mention the quality of their paving. — More than 95 percent of the bitumen is still exported, even though there are roads whose paving costs could be recouped in less than a year. Among other things, the reasons for the dire state of the roads, linked to the policy pursued in this field, must be sought in the very organization and system of their management, planning, administration, surveying and design, construction and coordination, all of which have continually faltered. Transport essentially consists of two elements: movement (vehicles) and infrastructure (roads, railways, ports and airports). At the second international conference on transport issues in the countries of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, held in Sofia in July, the infrastructural backwardness of this region under current circumstances and at this stage of development was particularly emphasized. But the facts in our country prove the opposite. The Ministry of Transport (Communications) has historically been an agency for people from one side only — (Continued on page 2) FAURK KABA Candidate of Technical Sciences THOMA XHORI

These days, a double calamity has befallen the old PP, or the new PS: the successive arrests of two of its senior leaders, who have entered its history and the National Encyclopedic Dictionary, and of the current chief “enclocrat” of the PS, the unrepentant communist-socialist, son-in-law of the Kapo dynasty, Xhevat Loshi. This grave misfortune for these two distinguished comrades must have greatly shaken not only their families, but also the circles in which they worked as leading party officials, and the ministries they directed with “genius,” despite having no relevant education or specialization. Hekuran of the Block left his mark wherever he set foot and laid a hand to work: in Peqin and Elbasan, Lushnjë and Cerrik, Elbasan, Librazhd and Dibër, in the PPSH, the MBP, and elsewhere, including the border belt associated with the Block’s origins. Although he had only a secondary education, we boasted of him as an “engineer,” with a party-school diploma secured for him, and after he had hastily skimmed many books from the “Treasure” of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Enver Hoxha. Because of his innate “intelligence,” Enver and Ramiz entrusted him with very senior party and state posts. Anyone fortunate enough to hear him at rallies or meetings was left dumbfounded and speechless by the “depth” of his thought as a great philosopher and Marxist-Leninist thinker. No one will forget his “historic” speech at the inauguration ceremony of the Fier-Vlorë railway. If Radio and Television have kept it in their archives, let them rebroadcast it in one of their New Year’s Eve programs. With the comic talents of Zef Deda and Paullin Selimi, people would be rolling with laughter and envying his subtle humor and improvisational skill. Many innocent people tortured in prison cells will not forget his beastly cruelty, and many families will remember their loved ones who disappeared without a trace behind the barbed wire of the borders. His fellow Peqin residents will remember him (Continued on page 2)

ACCORDING TO A CONVERSATION WITH THE ITALIAN AMBASSADOR TORKUATO KARDILIO “The Italian ambassador, Mr. Torkuato Kardilio, told me that the two Italian medical centers have begun operating in our country. He has the figures.” “The Italian ambassador, Mr. Torkuato Kardilio, told me that the two Italian medical centers have begun operating in our country. He has the figures. I went with one of the doctors from Mr. Sabri Godo, as well as on the way to the Italian embassy, because it was in that state that we were born; we were taken out of that house in 1948, even though my father was its owner and had no ties to any party or activity against the state and communism. So, after 42 years, I would see that courtyard, that room. And while Mr. Kardilio began telling me about the work of the two Italian medical centers, I was overcome with emotion and had to tell him the truth about my extraordinary emotional state. But I quickly pulled myself together and wrote in the notebook where I was taking notes: — One of these centers is in Vlorë, while the other is in Durrës. They have been operating for 15 days in specialties such as dermatology, cardiology, surgery, dentistry, ear, nose and throat medicine, and gynecology. There are six doctors and 12 nurses from the Italian Red Cross. By Monday they had seen 24 Albanian children. A good thing, especially for everyone, is that these centers are providing this very significant service. This is borne out by the number of visits made by these qualified specialists from Italy, a friendly country that has something we need? In Durrës, 2,448 visits have been made, and in Vlorë, 1,770. That makes 4,218 visits in all. Equally important, they have distributed medicines free of charge, worth 100 million lire. — Our fraternal and warm conversation naturally turned to the Italian doctors’ impressions of the condition of our hospitals. Sadly, I noted that they were shocked by the hospitals’ very poor conditions and the lack of equipment and medicines. We will do everything we can to help you with this situation, adding this to the food aid. He spoke calmly, but not without sorrow, and this representative of a people that has extended its generous hand to us became very close to me. But why, why are we still a poor friend? This friend of Albania said in a television interview that our wealth is right beneath our feet. We have underground resources, land, wonderful resources for tourism, but we had no government and we had one party... We know what it was like. But let me leave this historical digression about the past and follow the thread of the conversation... (Continued on page 4)

On October 7, 1991, at the PR Central Headquarters, Vice Chairmen Vangjush Gambeta and Cercis Migomatani met with Mr. Vorbs, the chargé d’affaires ad interim of the FRG embassy in Tirana. During the warm and constructive conversation, the German guest was given a comprehensive overview of the country’s socioeconomic situation, the serious state of public order, the causes of this situation as seen by the Republican Party, and possible ways out. Particular attention was given to the political situation in our country, the firm positions and legitimate demands of the opposition parties, and their view of the Socialist Party as the consistent continuation of Enver Hoxha’s Party of Labor. The Republican Party expressed the view that nothing had changed in the overall policy of the monist communist state. The Republican vice-chairmen explained to Mr. Vorbs the party’s program and organization, its steadily growing presence in all four corners of the country, and the features that distinguish it from other political parties. At the same time, the Republican Party expressed to its German guest its desire for closer cooperation with the FRG on issues of interest to Europe, given the extremely difficult socioeconomic situation in the country. He was told of the profound sympathy our people feel for the brave, hardworking, intellectual and democratic German people.

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