— How do you assess the current state of agriculture? — Less than a third of the land area has been sown with wheat. If things continue this way, next year we will face a severe bread crisis, bread being the staple food, especially for the rural population, which consumes one kilogram of bread per person. But it is not only wheat. Other crops may also remain unsown. What will happen? We cannot go on hoping that others will feed us for two years in a row. Almost the entire rural population is sitting idle in front of the land, something that has never happened in history. The farmer has sown and harvested even in wartime, ensuring its continuity, and that of the nation, under every circumstance. This situation must end as soon as possible, or disintegration will be inevitable. — In your view, what are the causes of this situation? — First, the way the Enver Hoxha regime dealt with the problem. The countryside and agriculture were treated as an area from which produce had to be extracted. This criterion has not disappeared even today. Agriculture, however, must be viewed primarily as the basis of the farmer’s own life, as a noble profession to be passed down from father to son, and, finally, as the basis for feeding the population as a whole. Second, at the beginning of this year, the communist governments of Çarçani and Nano, for purely electoral purposes, carried out several reforms to privatize the countryside, creating extraordinary confusion. By first allocating two dynym and then another two, these governments muddled the land boundaries so badly that it became impossible to make sense of them. Third, the land law. Implementing this law encountered difficulties that plunged the countryside into even greater paralysis. — How can we get out of this situation, and what do you think of the land law? — The only way out is full privatization, and the land law must serve this purpose. On the whole, I consider it a good law, and it should be implemented. But it needs to be supplemented with regulations and ordinances. That is only natural. A law that brings fundamental changes to the life of the country can never be perfect. The law is completed in the course of implementation, especially under our conditions. — What changes are needed? — From what I have observed, I could summarize the necessary changes in three points: First, as soon as the reform began, the full issue of ownership arose, and the law must address this... of ownership, which also became the main obstacle. This was to be expected. I believe that the land each person owned before collectivization should be recognized as private property. In the current distribution, the farmer should be allocated, according to the number of people in the household, an area within the property they previously owned, if it is available. If a school or another social facility has been built there, or a neighbor has built a house, it is clear that one cannot insist. The property, which may amount to 5–7 hectares, should be compensated by the state over a period of 15 years. I believe this would remove the first obstacle. Second, the law has not taken account of regional differences. In some places there is enough land for everyone; elsewhere people do not even get 1.7 dynym. How will the farmer live in the latter case? The boundaries between villages need to be reviewed, especially where agricultural enterprises have taken land from villages; it should be returned to them immediately. Even after these adjustments, some villages will still be short of land. Then the state must step in. Resettlement cannot be carried out now; it will happen naturally later, when the countryside too enters and operates within the free-market system. For now, in villages that cannot be provided with the minimum amount of land, the state should employ these people in the nearest enterprises, especially when those enterprises have taken the villages’ land, as in the case of Fier and the oil industry. Third, the commissions should have the authority to apply special criteria. In most villages in Dibër, in Tropojë, Skrapar, and elsewhere, people want to divide the land according to ownership before collectivization, with everyone satisfied. Why should the state insist on a different division when the entire village has reached an agreement? Some bureaucrats at the center refuse to discuss anything. But the law is made for the countryside and for people, not merely as a show for bureaucrats. Special cases must be taken into account, and the districts must be given authority. Otherwise, one hits a brick wall, killings occur, and the land remains fallow. — The Government complains that political parties have obstructed or failed to help with the implementation of the law. — This is partly true. Someone may have urged farmers not to accept land that belongs to someone else. Or someone may say that this law is temporary and will be changed by the next parliament. I do not know which party—(Continued on page 4)

STATEMENT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY At its meeting of 26.11.1991, among other matters, the Executive Committee of the Republican Party considered the program of the memorandum dated 25.11.1991, submitted by the three Republican ministers to the Presidium of the Council of Ministers. After a detailed examination of the memorandum, the Executive Committee found it correct in every respect and fully supports it. The conditions in the country have made the Government’s work more difficult, but for some time it has been clear that these difficulties are being compounded by the Government’s poor internal functioning and its inability to rise to the role of genuine political leadership. In economic policy, the Government has failed to honor its main commitments: 1. The Government had pledged to have the land worked by the SMTs, regardless of whether the law was implemented. But the land was not worked even on the agricultural enterprises, where there were no land-distribution problems. 2. The Government had pledged to secure food supplies for 18 months. It turns out that, apart from wheat, no food item has been contracted for January 1992 or thereafter. 3. The Government had pledged to carry out privatization. So far, nothing has been privatized or put into operation, or else a half-hearted privatization has been carried out that cannot get off the ground. Auctions and other forms of concessions have opened the way only for speculators, former millionaires, and communist leaders, who are taking over economic power and becoming just as harmful as they were when they held political power. 4. The Government had pledged to put people to work, a decisive factor in stability. But the farmer remained idle because of defects in the land law, while factories remained closed under the total wage system of 80 percent, due to a lack of raw materials, for which virtually nothing has been done, despite the loans granted. In the field of social policy: 1. The Government had pledged to restore order. Daily events clearly show that crime and violence are reaching the proportions of a country in anarchy, where vigilantism rules. The Government’s strategy of restoring order by increasing police forces is mistaken. Order will be established primarily through privatization in the countryside and in the city, when the people become owners of property. As far as public order is concerned, the police and the judicial authorities are only one part of the picture. 2. The Government had pledged to complete, as quickly as possible, the investigations and the trial of the bloc leaders. But the Government allowed the agencies concerned, which depend on it, to drag out this entire matter, sending it down the same path as the Shkodër trial. According to the accurate findings of the victims’ defense lawyers, that case was manipulated from beginning to end during the investigation in order to destroy evidence of the monstrous crime. 3. The Government pledged to set about resolving the serious problems of former political prisoners. What has been done for them so far shows that the Government has regarded former prisoners more as a nuisance than as people to whom it owes a great moral and material debt. The Government does not function properly internally because of subjective factors, which are also reflected in the treatment of Republican ministers, and because it lacks support among the people and in the local administration. Meanwhile, the People’s Assembly is below the level expected of the country’s foremost institution, on which the making of laws depends. Under these conditions, when the country has now been completely ruined and is heading toward catastrophe, the Republican Party sees free elections as the primary way out, since they would secure the country’s leadership from top to bottom. At its meeting of 4.11.1991, the National Council of the Republican Party decided to call for elections to be held at the end of February. We welcome the Democratic Party’s decision to join this initiative. As for leaving the Government, the Republican Party, aware of the great importance of such an act in the current situation, will act according to the position taken by the Presidium of the People’s Assembly and the Government regarding the timing of the elections, and according to—(Continued on page 4) — not suspect. — There is uncertainty regarding the replacement of humanitarian aid from Italy, especially in relation to price movements. The issue of prices also remains unresolved in the movement of goods on credit. The Government should have obtained accurate and complete information about a ques—

At the far end, lying prone, is the foreign package; beside it, that large, round walnut tree, whose branches reached the windows of the house. A fine, cold drizzle is falling, a sure sign that autumn is at its turning point. The dense branches, with a yellowed leaf here and there, fill almost all the space in the garden. The beautiful trunk of the walnut tree from my childhood is gone. Only the branches remain, like lifeless arms. The beautiful trunk of the walnut tree has been taken away by… strangers. My childhood was hidden in its beautiful trunk, but now it is no longer there; only a leaf here and there reminds me that Mother used the leaves of our big walnut tree to dye our winter sweaters. Next year our big walnut tree will no longer put out leaves. Nor will it bear fruit, which we sold almost every year because we were short of bread. “The fine, steady rain continues, terribly cold. Beneath the walnut branches, the beautiful wrapping of a foreign package is getting wet, so beautiful that it looks to me like a perfect, colorful toy. I turn it over in my hands, and suddenly I remember the Indians deceived by the Europeans of the modern age: ‘valuable lessons from history!’ I kick the beautiful wrapping of the foreign package, and although it is damp, it does not let me in. I add… the dense drizzle… autumn is at its turning point, while the yellowed leaves (the coming…); by the fire, it will not… …because they do not wear them. And I think that they must not have forgotten that dresses and coats, too, were lacking in their youth. Even Fatos, the 90-year-old, had been brought a dress and a pair of shoes, which she did not want to lock away in that bridal chest so they could dress her in them on the day of… My villagers have discovered the world and wander through it in transit: children, young boys, grown-ups, men, women, even young girls. The first to leave were Jorgjeta, Ani…, while, people say—but I do not want to believe it—that the beautiful Nina was caught by foreign soldiers without a passport and detained for two days for… some questioning… Refugees have now returned, including those who took portraits and busts of Enver from their poor homes and shouted: after February 20, ‘We want Enver Hoxha! We want Enver Hoxha!’ ‘Party of Enver, we are always ready.’ Perhaps because they have lost that false sanctity and the power that the Party of Labour gave them, the party of murderous leaders, they seem poorer to me than the others. … ‘My villagers are now living in transit in a united Europe. But has Albania taken part in Europe’s transit concerts?’ IN TRANSIT IN A UNITED EUROPE Enver Hoxha’s iron borders melted away as if by the magic of fairy tales. Only the presence of countless bunkers, small and large, the barbed-wire fences and the bodies discovered from time to time near the border pyramids, where RPSSh can still be read, evoke the image of the border shackles. But now they have been broken through. My villagers broke through them, too. For several months now, they have been rushing straight toward the border. They are leaving. Some (I do not want to believe they are Albanians) never to return. The others, thousands upon thousands, are in transit. They are leaving. What remains behind is that great field in the valley of my birthplace, almost deserted, untilled, unsown. It is as if a real conqueror has passed through. What could it be, if not the conqueror, that caused this devastation, that separated the farmer from the land, from… “I have five suits now,” says Bashkimi, “and I can dress like a president.” Could he have forgotten that for forty years he could not wear even a single jacket? His five suits, brought from beyond the border, hang there, and he does not dare step inside them. And the women about the same age as my mother now have beautiful dresses and coats, and you say—

PRESIDIUM OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY To the Presidium of the Council of Ministers To the Executive Committee of the Republican Party We, the group of Republican Party ministers, aware of the heavy responsibility we bear toward the people at the present time, foresee several problems on which our continued participation in the Government depends. 1. The lack of transparency in the main areas of state activity is becoming increasingly pronounced in the Council of Ministers. It has become standard working practice for important issues to be considered by two or three members of the Presidium, or with individual ministers, while responsibility before the people remains collective. The lack of transparency is evident in both the economic and political spheres. As members of the Government, we have not been given the opportunity to jointly assess the terms on which foreign aid and loans are granted, as an important factor in stabilizing the country and initiating reform, or the political reasons for delays in signing contracts and implementing schedules, both for foodstuffs and for raw materials. The failure of the approved aid to arrive on time had catastrophic consequences for the state of the market and for the opening of employment opportunities. The same criterion of dealing with issues on an individual basis has also been applied in relations with the European Common Market and the International Monetary Fund. Information in the Government has been limited to accounts of impressions from trips and discussions, which cannot replace a documented examination of the issues and the securing of guarantees for implementing reforms and addressing the threat of hunger, which is becoming alarming. In the area of international relations, we also consider the following particular cases of issues being handled behind closed doors: — Despite repeated requests from the Republican Party and other political forces, the reasons for not officially recognizing the Republic of Kosovo have not been presented to the Government, while certain actions are being taken that de facto indicate recognition, making the Government’s position on this major national issue unclear, if not suspect. — The arrival of aid from Greece and relations with that country as a whole have been handled by several ministers and even by an unauthorized emissary, while the Government as a whole does not know the real reason for the blockage. — We welcome relations with Turkey, but consider it entirely unacceptable that we are not informed of any commitments or possible agreements. — Visits abroad by our delegations have not been subject to Government discussion regarding the political and economic platforms to be pursued. The most flagrant case is the visit of the Prime Minister to the USA, which was limited to notification, one day beforehand, that he would make this visit, without any explanation. Had we been consulted, we would not have given our approval for this very important visit to take an equivocal course, thereby compromising our national dignity. It does not appear that the Prime Minister had an invitation from the American Government. If he wanted to make a private visit there, he should nevertheless have sought the Government’s opinion, given that he is its head. On such matters, as well as on other important agreements, not only must every minister be informed and cast a vote, but the people must also be informed, if we live in a country that claims to be democratic. No one has the right to handle in secret, or on a personal basis, matters connected with the country’s primary interests. 2. Unacceptable delays in implementing collective decisions are evident, giving rise to the belief that these delays are deliberate: — It was decided some time ago to conduct an analysis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is failing to carry out a full renewal. At the same time, this Ministry complains that it is being sidelined. — Regarding the tragic July exodus, the Government reached the joint conclusion that the exodus had been directed by certain forces that took advantage of the difficult social and economic situation. It was decided that these forces should be exposed and punished; but this decision, too, was forgotten, leaving “certain forces” free to stage further actions. — Issues are also being dragged out and left unanswered—(Continued on page 4)

Besides the wave of human exodus (in transit), which continues to grow as time goes by, there is another exodus that has been foretold. YLLI RAKIPI (Continued on page 3)