Government officials queue up for certificates of no criminal record. More motion supporters in the DP VEFA is being pressured. The president flees with the stolen billions

. Nano and Fino played recklessly with Karkani of SHIK The Albanian state has suffered terribly at the hands of its own secret services. The comparison can be made only with the so-called banana republics of South America. The Albanian Sigurimi served the ruling clique fanatically, yet the state remained distrustful of it. It was always kept under strict control, and the slightest suspicion could cost ministers their heads. We need only look back to when Enver had four ministers—also his close associates—shot in the head. What the Albanian Sigurimi did to its own citizens is well known, has been documented, and needs no comment. As though nothing had happened, former Sigurimi officers are drawing close to SHIK. In fact, they are becoming more trusted than the young intellectuals brought into the service some time ago. Specifically, Arben Karkini was a non-party intellectual, proposed by the Republican Party and approved by the Government of National Reconciliation and the parties’ round table (including, note, the PS); but the PS government kept him in limbo and has now cast him aside without any reason. This is a socialist paradox that needs no argument. Karkini, who had no party affiliation, was removed and Klosi, a trusted militant (perhaps not only a party-card holder), was appointed in his place. As they say: “Get up, hodja, so the priest can sit down!” We repeat that until the formation of the Government of National Reconciliation, Karkini was a young man minding his own business who had barely managed to secure an ordinary clerk’s job in the Kavaja Prosecutor’s Office. Unlike Klosi, he was one of the young men of democracy, who had been given a medal and then left without a job. He was offered the position of head of SHIK and accepted it with the sincere intention of improving the service’s bad image. Perhaps the PD government is to blame for having left the National Intelligence Service with a bad image, but that blame can certainly not be laid at Karkini’s door. Yesterday’s ZP said that there had supposedly been two reasons for Karkini’s dismissal. First, he had not denounced Berisha’s SHIK; and second, he had supposedly failed to reform the institution and had not replaced the directors of its departments. Without meaning to, ZP is putting Fatos Nano and Bashkim Fino in the crosshairs. It was precisely the prime ministers—one of them—that had asked Karkini to safeguard SHIK, keep the situation on hold, and avoid aggravating matters within the service. This arrangement between the two prime ministers remained in force until the last few days, when Karkini was forced to resign. This is the truth. What the socialist government does with SHIK is its business, but we consider it our civic duty to warn that this return of former Sigurimi officers is a bad omen for pluralism, Albania, and the future of democracy. If the doors of SHIK are opened to all former Sigurimi officers, we will see the return and re-entry of the State Security service through the screening of old and new personnel. If this trend is not stopped, the day will soon come when those who appoint SHIK’s head today will themselves get into trouble tomorrow, at the hands of SHIK itself. We will have covert informers throughout entire sectors of the public administration, in sectors that are less… [unclear]. SHIK’s duty is not to protect political power, but Albania.

Page 3 . Attack on the police chief in Laç; murderers of the serviceman in Gjirokastër arrested; a hail of bullets on Kavaja Boulevard; Vlora opens the prison; Burrel prison reopens; corruption in the dentists’ commission. Pages 5–7 Football: Cup tomorrow. Page 15

Illustration: a man presents a decoration to a serviceman.

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On Monday, 25. 8. 1997, at 10:00, a meeting of the Congress Organizing Commission will be held at the PRSH Central Headquarters, according to the list below. The Presidency Congress Organizing Commission Page 4