The Princess of Wales Opens Her Heart P.4

Berat’s smoke-free in- dustry P.3

The one certain thing is the surprise that accom- panies every week P.7

Draft law on vetting officials’ backgrounds submitted to Parliament The report on the draft law entitled “On the vetting of officials and other persons connected with the defense of the democratic state” has arrived on the parliamentarians’ desks. It contains eight legal and subordinate legal acts that will be on Parliament’s agenda for discussion next week. Yesterday, the Presidium of Parliament added it to next week’s agenda. This draft law aims to prevent from participating in political life those individuals whose activity has been detrimental to the interests of the Albanian people and of Albania. Such a legal act will ensure the country a clean democratic life during this transitional period, free from the remnants and memory of past actions, and in itself represents a necessary step in condemning communist terror and its acts, which will serve the future. In its first article, the draft law sets out the conditions for serving in important legislative and executive bodies and functions of the judiciary, whether elected or appointed, as well as in the media, higher education institutions, and financial institutions. Article 2 defines the bodies and functions, working in which during the period from 28.11.44 to 31.03.1991 bars one from being elected or appointed to the positions provided for by this draft law until 31.12.2001. To verify these activities, a commission made up of 7 people is established. Continues on p. 5

Tellalli Along with Miss Albania, this time Miss Politics will also be chosen. Polls say the main candidates will be 27 people. The new law on participation in politics is a blatant violation of the spies’ fundamental rights. If the files are examined carefully, there are plenty of “collaborators” who have reported nothing but the truth about those they saw and heard. For cold days, in the absence of electricity, gas and fuel, heating is recommended through stormy applause and light ovations.

The final cases will be settled by the court The Scientologists’ “mission” comes to an end Scientologists in court. This came after a lawsuit filed by the German-American Gorg Hagi, representative of the Scientologists in Albania, against his Albanian associate A. Demiraj, seeking the return of $420,000 and another mysterious sum drawn from the profits of their activities over these three years in Albania. As is well known, Scientologists are members of a religious sect whose main program is to make large profits through investments in tourism and construction. The German-American had brought machinery and a large amount of equipment to Albania, which was used for construction there, but six months ago this cooperation went bankrupt, and so the final problems of Scientology in Albania remain to be resolved only by the court. P. V.

The peace agreement, signed the day before yesterday in Dayton, can be regarded, quite literally, as a historic agreement that will open a new era for the Balkans, shaken by waves of extreme nationalism now that the communist system has collapsed in the countries that once belonged to its empire. Dayton - The First Step After Four Years of Bloodshed Without in any way minimizing the importance of the Dayton agreement for us Albanians, we should be struck by the fact that in those talks not a single word was said about Kosovo and Albanians in general The peace agreement, signed the day before yesterday in Dayton, can be regarded, quite literally, as a historic agreement that will open a new era for the Balkans, shaken by waves of extreme nationalism now that the communist system has collapsed in the countries that once belonged to its empire. Peace was achieved after 21 days of intensive negotiations, among which the successive marathon nights can be mentioned as a particular record. The process carried out in Dayton went through many twists and turns; indeed, for a few moments it was thought that success would not be achieved. The so-called “Posavina corridor,” which linked the territory controlled by Bosnian Serbs in the western part of Bosnia, the status of Sarajevo, and the issue of the rights of the two entities created within the Bosnian state were some of the issues on which the delegations could not find common ground. Just at the moment when it was thought that the parties were packing their bags without reaching any agreement, President Clinton made the dramatic announcement that an agreement had been reached. “It is a historic and heroic choice made by the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia,” President Clinton said in his speech when he announced the agreement. “Today, Bosnia moves from the horrors of war to hopes for peace,” he would add later. However, the signing of the agreement in Dayton, Ohio, does not mean that the difficulties are over; indeed, it can be said that they may now be even greater. A few hours after the agreement was announced, some Bosnian Serb leaders opposed it, saying it was “a cold shower” for them. “We have signed nothing; Milošević has no right to speak for us. This agreement is wrong.” So said the speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament, Momcillo Krajshnik, who was in Dayton in the delegation headed by Milošević. Krajshnik also said that the agreement had been signed by Milošević without his presence. Until yesterday at noon there had been no reaction from Karaxhiq and Mlladiç, who, under the Dayton agreement, are excluded from political life as indicted by the Hague Court for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. In Belgrade, the reactions are generally positive. The leader of Serbia’s largest opposition party, Vuk Drashkoviç, considered it as • The various ultranationalist currents that remain dissatisfied with the terms set out in the Dayton agreement, if left unchecked, could turn Bosnia into a Lebanon in the heart of Europe • The peace achieved in Dayton can only be called a first, uncertain step after four years of bloody conflict. • In the three-week Dayton բանակցations, the success is not surprising, as it was achieved through constant American pressure and the understanding that the logic of war could not provide any solution; what was always in the air was the possibility of failure. Continues on p. 5