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At a meeting with the foreign secretary, Malkholm Rifkind, in London, Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova asked that Great Britain, like the USA, open a representative office in Kosovo. Rugova said he was satisfied after meeting Mr. [?] Rifkind and stressed that he had informed him of the plans for Kosovo’s independence. After visits to Denmark, where he received the “For Freedom and Peace” award, and Great Britain, Rugova returned to Tirana yesterday.

On February 27, 1996, the chairman of PR, Mr. Sabri Godo, and the head of Press and Information, Neritan Alibali, took part in the meeting of the Shijak PR District Council. At the meeting, which had also invited PR candidates for parliament and local government, the branch chairman, Mr. Qemal Preza, presented an overview of the work carried out by the branch, which had celebrated the fifth anniversary of its founding just a few days earlier. After speaking about the activities that it After the branch chairman, Mr. Sabri Godo took the floor. Among other things, he said that it was essential to defend the vote the people give us. To do that, we must prepare well so that what happened in the previous elections does not happen again. Mr. Godo then recalled Shijak’s historical traditions and PR’s support for this patriotic, freedom-loving region. He then set out PR’s political position as an opponent of Those who signed included candidates for members of parliament and for local government from the PR. The branch chairman, Mr Qemal Preza, gave an overview of the work carried out by this branch, which had recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of its founding. After speaking about the difficulties the PR had had to face in Shijak, including dismissals from work among its members, Mr Preza discussed the organization of work on the eve of the campaign and the way PR candidates had been selected for all levels of government. Next, Mr Godo evoked Shijak’s historical traditions and the PR’s support for this patriotic, freedom-loving area. He then set out the PR’s political position as a staunch political opponent of the PS and in open and strong opposition to the PD. After Mr Godo, the branch’s PD members who took the floor expressed their optimism about achieving high results in the parliamentary elections. Correspondent, “Republika”

Greek defence secrets at stake On Friday evening, news emerged that two military attachés from EU countries, the Italian and the Dutch attachés, had been expelled from Greece on accusations of espionage. According to reports from various sources in Greece, the two attachés from countries allied with Greece had been caught red-handed with secret documents concerning Greece’s defence system in the area of the island of Lemnos, which lies near the Turkish coast. No arrest measures were taken against them because of the diplomatic immunity they enjoyed, but they were asked to leave Greece within 24 hours. However, only a few hours later, Dutch Foreign Minister Van Mierlo dismissed the diplomatic incident yesterday, calling it “a small storm in a coffee cup.” “There can be no question of Dutch espionage within NATO member countries,” the Dutch foreign minister said in an interview with Radio Bangkok. Van Mierlo said the matter would be resolved within a few days. The reaction of Mrs. Suzana Anjeli was more categorical; also speaking from Bangkok, she declared that “as far as the incident involving the Italian attaché, Mauro Volpicelli, is concerned, everything was blown out of proportion by the propaganda media, and the Greek deputy foreign minister himself, Romeos, who is also in Bangkok, had been informed by Anjeli herself and knew nothing about this matter.”

Sea migrants are changing their point of departure. As space in Vlorë, Durrës and Fier becomes more restricted, the departure point has shifted to the northern coast. This is best evidenced by the four cases recently recorded in which the border police along the Lezhë–Shkodër stretch intercepted boats carrying illegal migrants in the sea area. Although this route is longer for reaching Italy (108 miles, compared with the 70-mile route from Vlorë), the dream of reaching the West continues to involve sacrifice for Albanians. At midnight on February 29, 1996, the Naval Forces of the Shëngjin Navy had to rescue a motorboat carrying 18 illegal migrants, 16 men and 2 women, from sinking. Seeing the weather worsen, the owner of the motorboat abandoned the migrants and left in a motor dinghy. In danger, the migrants radioed the Naval Forces for help from the motorboat. A torpedo boat immediately reached them in the raging sea and rescued the migrants. A radio receiver was found installed in the motorboat, and it became the Pandora’s box that helped save the migrants. After all 18 migrants were escorted to the police station and gave the necessary explanations, they were released. An investigation by the Lezhë police station found that the owner of the boat was a 30-year-old citizen named Zenelaj, resident in Lezhë; his fate is unknown.

The snow that covered the warm week in Tirana yesterday also blanketed the week of negotiations over the Pole of the Centre. The second congress of the Social Democrats pronounced the high-level transaction of creating an alliance among centrist parties, from left to right: PSD, PBDNJ, PAD. To hold Gjindushi’s congress, ... Ceka of AD. ... newly elected to the highest post in his own party, was forecasting a week in which the Pole of the Centre would ... come together, in the end. Melo of ... proposed at the Social Democrats’ congress a Pole of the Centre, ... and ... at the meeting with Bush... the Democrat, became sceptical. ... any alliance with PS, while on the other hand he sought an inter-party pact (which did not take place, not even against terrorism, following the events of February 26) “to turn the coming elections into a popular referendum on the electoral law.” After the elections, Melo proposed, “a technical government should prepare early elections.” “Early elections, early elections,” replied Gjindushi, who had stated the previous Sunday that PSD and PAD could even shoulder the burden of the centre in Albania on their own. Ceka, meanwhile, called Melo irrational and paranoid in his thinking, with only optimism about forming an alliance at the centre. The other issue discussed among the centrist allies was: what role would PS play in this arrangement? The Socialists themselves will make an overture at home, in the name of their supposed break with the Communists, by moving closer to the centrists. But the latter say: Stop! PSD, in Gjindushi’s words, says there will be constituencies left uncontested. PS accepts that a multicoloured parliament tomorrow would be better than a legislature made up only of Socialists. This is because they know very well that the President is their opponent and enemy. Thus, this week, which was expected to be decisive for the Pole of the Centre, has unfortunately been quiet. Quiet also as a sign of mourning for the victims of the terror attack on February 26. That bomb, which was politicized by the President from the outset, brought confusion to all the political alliances. PR chairman Sabri Godo clearly stated that the incident should not be politicized, while naturally recognizing its tragic and painful nature; he proposed that the apolitical “Tirana” association organize a procession against terror. In this way, the Republican leader opposed PS’s Pellumbi’s proposal for a rally of all parties, arguing that the issue should not be politicized. A. S.

• The Muslim Community faces 70 court cases...........p. 2 • Why the Right League should go to the elections with joint candidates...........p. 3 • Tirana without a head of Urban Planning...........p. 3 • Price controls on paper...........p. 3 • Albania on the eve of the elections...........p. 4 • A move to capture the centre...........p. 5 • Prof. Dr. Shaban Demiraj on his 75th birthday...........p. 5 • In the cradle of technical football...........p. 8