- Mr Godo, what can you say about the latest developments concerning the Italian army on the shores of Puglia? - I think that both sides are showing good will. But it is not good for things to happen and only afterwards be examined. The measures being taken now could have been discussed earlier and perhaps the deployment of army units opposite our shores could have been avoided—something that exposes Albania to Europe and to Italian public opinion. - You were the first to denounce this incident. Had you noticed any cooling in relations with Italy before this? - The Republican Party regards relations with Italy as being of primary importance, and in every case we should work to develop them, not create difficulties. I do not think there is any real cooling, but neither can we say that relations are at the proper level. Italy is the European country closest to Albania. Imports and exports, cooperation in investment and so on can be developed at lower cost and more naturally with Italy. For many reasons, cooperation in the political field should also be more intensive. - In your opinion, what has prevented relations from growing to the level you envisage? - This must be sought on both sides. Perhaps in Italy, being so occupied with domestic political problems, they have not found all the time needed to deal with Albania in proportion to the interests this country represents for Italy, as a neighbor and as one of the main gateways to the Balkans. I say this without complete conviction. Italy has always had its internal “troubles.” There, the average time a government remains in power is about 11 months. This has continued since the end of the war. But it has not prevented Italy from rising to become one of the world’s five most developed countries and pursuing an active foreign policy. Then I must say that the minor difficulties encountered on our part have not been dealt with Continued on p.3 Photograph of a man wearing glasses and a suit.

ESHREF YMERI It has been observed that Albania has, on several occasions, served and continues to serve as a laboratory for political experiments by European institutions. Thus, for example, our country is apparently supposed to serve as a model(!) for respect for minority rights, even though the Albanian people of Kosovo and of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are denied the most elementary rights; in the latter, they make up almost half the population of the republic. The Albanian minority in Greece is not recognized at all by Greek legislation, let alone its rights being discussed; meanwhile, although there are many examples in Europe, the Albanian nation continues to be divided among five states, with its contribution as a factor of stability in the Balkans going unrewarded by European diplomacy. But, strangely enough, the experiments continue, even by the Albanians themselves. Let us be more specific: The Ministry of Education has prepared a draft law on the pre-university system, which must be submitted (and perhaps has already been submitted) to the Council of Ministers for approval and then forwarded to Parliament to become law. This draft law does not explicitly clarify two things: a) the position of the Albanian language in the Albanian public education system; b) the function of compulsory education within the framework of the entire Continued on p. 4

According to reports from the League’s branches, the petition by the Albanian Right-Wing League opposing the adoption of the law on the purchase and sale of agricultural land is continuing vigorously in all districts. Citizens’ response to this law has been very good, even though the other political forces that are expected to oppose this law in Parliament have made no appeal to support the initiative of the Albanian Right-Wing League to defeat the law from the outset. According to the results, this number of signatures has been collected within this week in the districts from which we have received reports: Fier: 3 thousand; Korçë: 4 thousand; Vlora: 7 thousand; Tirana, Durrësi: 9 thousand. Shkodra: 2500; Gjirokastra: 1 thousand; Skrapari: 3 thousand.

Here are the latest results of the poll conducted yesterday morning by the neutral sociological agency. For zeal in corruption, the sh-shion PD came in first with 60.05%. In second place was PD with 23.34% (?!?!). Then come ten parties with under 4%, a percentage that does not secure them participation in Parliament. These results may be disputed by some party with less zeal(!), but they are absolutely true. They have also been confirmed by international institutions. Anyone who wants to provide proof in connection with these figures has until the day after tomorrow. If this deadline is exceeded, proof will only be given at the address of ZP in the column “We affirm with their own words.” Regarding the 400,000,000 dollars taken by some officials of Zëri i Popullit—with quotation marks, of course—we inform all prosecutors, investigators, police officers and thieves that this money was paid to ZP as compensation for persecution and, since we had no securities, we gave them dollars. They had no proof. But you, you are right to concern yourselves with these matters? For the money forgotten in Blerym Çele’s apartment, read ZP today. Why tire yourselves out for nothing?!

Karaxhiç threatens the UN and NATO, and defies The Hague The Serbian leader, Karaxhiç, threatened that if NATO forces entered the conflict zone, he would take the blue-helmet troops hostage. He also declared that if the Bosniaks in the UN safe areas were not disarmed, “we will take everything by force, including Sarajevo.” Finally, Karaxhiç also issued a challenge to the Hague Court, which has opened a trial against him. “If you find me 100 children born of rapes,” Karaxhiç said, “then I will declare myself guilty.”

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