The last match of the national team Much ado about nothing Wales draw in Tirana with 9 absentees in the lineup A match with no excitement on the heavy pitch of the stadium Although it was a rainy day, more than 6,000 spectators sat in the stands of the National Stadium to watch the national football team, for the first time since being fielded without Demollari, against Wales. It seemed as if such a result would be reached when Kushta scored from the penalty spot in the third minute and earlier Pano had hit the post from a free kick. But that is not what happened. Our complacent players, thinking that goals are scored by themselves, began passing the ball in defense, giving Wales time to think up the moves that would later produce the equalizing goal. Thus our team, apart from Zmijani’s saves in the minute (continued on p.2) Tirana, of the Albanian national team, Bajko Tirana of the Albanian national team, Bajko

I still hold the same earlier view that Albanian socialists should not come to power. Because between them and the dictatorship there is not yet a break, a dividing wall, a filter. This will cause any hostility against them, nourished by bitter memories that are still close at hand, to take dangerous proportions. Albanian socialists cannot hold power for more than a year. This will wear out the country and will tarnish them themselves, the Socialists. Taken from the interview Kadare gave to the newspaper "Albania"

Construction has taken over investments in Albania. The 1995 indicators confirm this fact very clearly. Investments in construction, among the six main sectors of the macroeconomy, account for over 57% of the volume of investments in Albania, not only for 1995, but for the last 5 years. Around 7 times more has been invested in construction than in industry, 3.5 times more than in agriculture, and over 10 times more than in transport and education. Every year, investment in construction reaches more than 5.5 billion lek, out of a total of 9 billion in investments. A high percentage of construction investments is taken up by road networks[?] All investments in non-housing construction have been made either on state land or on someone else’s land, which means that a social problem has begun that ends up being resolved in court continued on p. 3

1 day “prison” in America and 4 months and 29 days in Albania 1 day "prison" in America and 4 months and 29 days in Albania The dove of peace in a cell 5 months in prison for the deserter peacekeeper. That is how the Military Court declared him guilty of having committed the criminal offense of evading military service. The story of Malko Zazaj, born in 1963, from Vajzari in Tepelenë and living in Tirana, begins on 8 September 1995, when he set off for America as part of the Albanian peacekeeping company, to take part in the exercise “Peace Eagle 95” in the state of Louisiana. Tempted by the magic of American life, where he went to visit a doctor, he changes his peacekeeper’s uniform and steps out into the free life of the city. After 8 hours of wandering, sleep overtakes him on the steps of a cathedral. Sleep is “fatal” for him. The alarm raised by the commander of the peacekeeping company, Vladimir Qirjazi, had set the military police of Louisiana in motion. But just as you can gain freedom in America, you can lose it in a matter of seconds. The military police caught him and notified the Albanian company, which had reached Frankfurt, that it would escort him within continued on p.4

In the city of Berat, the remains of 21 people executed by the communist dictatorship were found, and so far only 10 of them have been identified. The remains were found on the outskirts of the city of Berat. According to the head of the branch of the association of political persecuted persons in this district, from 1945 to 1990 in Berat 300 political prisoners were executed with or without a trial

Spain announced that its foreign minister, Javier Solana, would be a “wonderful” NATO chief and that it reserves the right to present him as an official candidate for the alliance’s top post, which has remained vacant. “He would certainly be a wonderful secretary general, but we have not thought about that yet,” Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez noted in an interview given to state radio. The foreign ministry stressed that Madrid could put forward Solana’s name. The Spanish foreign minister, who is said to have good relations with the American secretary of state, Warren Christopher, and with President Bill Clinton, emerged this year as a compromise candidate.

NATIONAL LIBRARY TIRANA

PAGE 5

PAGE 4