11,000 people have been reported The phenomenon fuels the clandestine timber trade. The Forestry Directorate sounds the alarm: “Our police have no equipment” ILLEGALITY The phenomenon fuels the clandestine timber trade. The Forestry Directorate sounds the alarm: “Our police have no equipment” War on those who cut down trees 11,000 people reported ANDREA STEFANI TIRANA — One million hectares of forest continue to be Albania’s most unprotected asset. According to the data, their main threat is not fire, but the indiscriminate and illegal felling of trees by thousands of individuals, mostly villagers. During 1992, 22,000 cases of abusive logging were processed. For 1993—only as of the third quarter—11,000 such cases have been recorded. But specialists at the General Directorate of Forests are not very optimistic about this comparison. The year is not over, and the winter season that has just begun is the period when the rate of logging multiplies. In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising if the “record” of 1992 is repeated. But what concerns the specialists most is the indifference and passivity of the Prosecutor’s Office. Under the law, it must consider as criminal offenses all cases of abusive logging where the damage exceeds the tariff value of 5,000 lek. “Most of these criminal offenses, reported to the relevant district prosecutors by the district forestry directorates, have not been examined,” Fenelon Hoxha, Deputy Director of the General Directorate of Forests, tells the Gazeta with concern. Similar neglect of this problem is also evident in the work of the enforcement offices. More than 70 percent of the damage reports involving sums below 5,000 lek, which under the law have been adjudicated by the district forestry directorates, have not been enforced. The enforcement offices have not collected compensation for the damage from the offenders. “This is not only a matter of economic damage amounting to several million lek,” Hoxha adds, “but also of the risk of undermining the law.” Another troubling issue in this field is the Forest Police. Although there is a law, “On Forests and the Forest Service Police,” the latter—according to the specialists themselves—exists almost only on paper. To date, this police force has no uniforms, no weapons, and insufficient communications, travel, and transport equipment. While the uniform issue seems to be on its way to resolution—the Government has just allocated a fund of about 1.5 million lek for 6,000 meters of fabric for uniforms—the availability of communications equipment, vehicles, and weapons remains uncertain. An as-yet-unofficially unconfirmed phone call has raised hopes of a $500,000 fund allocated to this Directorate by the World Bank to equip the Forest Police with vehicles and communications equipment. If this project is implemented, only the weapons issue will remain. Meanwhile, reports have come from various districts about the violence offenders have in many cases inflicted on forest service personnel. Trees cut down in Albanian forests

Aid Qeleshi: “We uncovered new things in Rome” EDMOND LAÇI TIRANA — “Our investigations in Italy have also brought to light new things that we had not previously discovered in Albania.” Arben Qeleshi, Tirana prosecutor—who, together with Fatos Dervishi, Chair of the Investigative Commission, and prosecutor Kastaq Beluri, is conducting investigations in Italy into the aid scandal and the Nano case—tells the Gazeta about the mission’s findings. “Today we questioned the last person, Vicenzo Altamura, a former official at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” says Qeleshi. “Earlier we had also questioned Michelis (former Foreign Minister), Cardilli (former ambassador in Tirana), Perniola (administrator of Levant Co) and Di Molo (former official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).” But the Albanian team of prosecutors still needs to speak to other people. “Yes, other people must also be questioned,” Qeleshi explains, “but that is very difficult, because the requests have to be submitted all over again. These are procedures that take time.” Under Italian law, defendants are not punished for false testimony, unlike witnesses. “This was one of the most difficult aspects of our investigation,” says Arben Qeleshi, who, together with the other prosecutors, had to work with documents provided by the Italian side, but could no longer question people. This process also marks the end of the Albanian mission in Rome, and today or tomorrow they will be back in Albania. Investigator Evelina Canale, who is investigating the Italian figures responsible for the scandal in Italy, will also arrive in Albania on Monday. […] Albanian emigrants and their rights. It is the group—perhaps because its interests are simultaneously involved in both countries—that has followed with greater anxiety and attention than any politician the frequent ups and downs that have recently characterized relations between the two states. Because Albanian emigrants in Greece have been the “barometer” of these relations. The number of emigrants returned in the notorious “broom” operations has made it possible to determine with almost mathematical precision the degree of deterioration in relations or the intensity of the diplomatic dispute. Fortunately, it seems that, amid many calculations, the leaders of diplomacy have also weighed the humanitarian aspirations of these thousands of people, whose bad luck and politics have struck them harshly. Following the Albanian Government’s repeated appeals to the Greek side, as well as to international institutions, it seems […] […] from tomorrow, a matter of particular importance, first and foremost for the more than 200,000 people in the diaspora, would be the question of their ability to communicate, which they have not had until now. “A legal framework must be created to regulate their employment and living conditions in Greece,” he said at a press conference with print and mass-media journalists, “and it will be submitted to the Greek Parliament for approval.” Described as a “new page” or a turning point in relations between the two countries, the talks in Tirana signal that Albanian emigrants will finally have their right to citizenship and will no longer be threatened by “Broom” operations. It seems this could happen very soon. “The joint commission for resolving the problem of Albanian emigrants,” Papulias assured a journalist in response to a question, “will meet within ten days. I am returning to Athens and will organize the joint committees so that we can decide at this high level and resolve the problems with the necessary speed.”

A joint Albanian-Greek commission will be established Hopes raised by Papulias’s visit A solution for emigrants soon A joint Albanian-Greek commission will be established TIRANA — (An. St.) “Albania and Greece are on the right path toward resolving the disagreements that have caused tensions in relations between the two countries in the past.” If this description—adopted by almost all news organizations—of the results of the visit to Albania by Karolos Papulias, Greece’s Foreign Minister, is borne out in the future, it would be 200,000 Albanian emigrants and their relatives. It is the hope—perhaps because its interests are present in both countries at once—that between the two states. For relations, which are moving toward a lasting solution acceptable to both countries. It was the Greek Minister Papulias, during talks in Tirana with Albanian leaders, who proposed establishing a mixed commission to resolve the problem of Albanian economic migrants in Greece, an idea welcomed by Tirana. Papulias also outlined several points that are expected to be proposed as a way of resolving the problem, which has become so complicated up to the two The meeting between President Berisha and Greek Foreign Minister Papulias in Tirana

TIRANA — Albania’s Prime Minister, Aleksandër Meksi, will leave for Bulgaria today. Invited by his Bulgarian counterpart Berov, Meksi will stay for a two-day official visit. The talks Meksi will hold with Bulgaria’s senior political authorities will focus on bilateral cooperation and its further development. Special attention will also be given to carrying out several joint projects in transport and expanding trade activity. The current situation in the Balkan region will also be discussed during the meetings.

The Foundation is being evicted from its old offices The Director of the International Center of Culture is demanding rent. Nazi responds: “There is a government decision concerning us” TIRANA — (Ar. Me.). The “Soros” Foundation is leaving its offices at the International Center of Culture. The reason is a demand made by Muhamet Bushtri, Director of the ICC. The letter, dated November 2, demands that the Foundation leave by the 5th of this month because it has not paid rent for the offices. Although everything seems quite ordinary, Fron Nazi, the Foundation’s Director, tells the Gazeta: “There is a government decision concerning us, which provides that we do not have to pay rent.” When “Soros” came to Albania, the Ahmeti Government assured it—there is a specific decision—that the Albanian side would cover the office expenses. There is also another letter, sent to the ICC with a copy to Soros. This letter, signed by Dhimitër Anagnosti, Minister of Culture, clarifies Soros’s position at the ICC and states that the latter’s relations on this matter would be handled through the Ministry of Culture. But “Soros” has now vacated the offices and moved elsewhere. This incident, which occurred a few days after the “Reporter” newspaper affair and following the demand for the resignation of this Foundation’s director, Fron Nazi, has recently attracted the attention of the mass media. Perhaps these are the reasons why George Soros himself may come to Albania in the coming days.

A success for Albanian Television TIRANA — (ed. la.). Albania has broken another barrier. The day before yesterday, for the first time, Albania’s place in the TV program became known as far away as Africa. “Albanians, wherever they are, will from today receive accurate information about their country,” President Berisha said, inaugurating the start of RTSH’s television broadcasts via satellite. Meanwhile, Rugova, President of the Republic of Kosovo, called “the new initiative a means that will dispel the information darkness for many Albanians living far from their homeland.” Preparations for RTSH’s entry into the satellite program had begun a month earlier, when the project also received financial support from the Government of Kosovo. All this was made possible following the signing of the contract with Albanian Telecom and Eutelsat, one of the most powerful organizations in Europe. The Albanian television must pay this organization every day — for two hours of broadcasting — 2,000 ECU, or 3,500 dollars. The new studio and program structure, together with the move to satellite, thus constitute the most important revolution at RTSH since its founding in 1968.

Enver Hoxha’s dictatorship had persecuted children, too An unbelievable account by a businessman who escaped from the Tepelena camp EDMOND LAÇI TIRANA — Children, too, were victims of communist terror in Albania. The witness who told “Gazeta” his story for the first time was sent to Shkodra’s New Prison—as a political prisoner—when he was only 7 years old. This time, the terrible stories of the regime’s children come from Ri Jeka, a city in Croatia, together with the man who, years ago, had managed to escape from one of Hoxha’s prisons: Sokol Kthehën, now there as part of a group of Croatian businessmen who wished to invest in Albania, after having left it at the age of 13. Thirteen years of imprisonment and camp life, events filled with stories of children, stories of innocent victims. “It was a real event,” Sokol recalls. “Whenever I remember it, I get goosebumps!” What political crime did you commit at the age of 7 to be imprisoned as a political prisoner? I have asked myself that question many times. In September 1968, I was only 2 months and 9 days old. Because my father, who had taken part in the Meeting of Mukje as a representative of Legaliteti and deputy head of the delegation, was at that time organizing anti-communist resistance in the North. The regime had naturally found its pretext, and so both I and my [sibling?] were sent to the New Prison in Shkodra—as it was called then—the Shkodra interrogatory prison. How long did you stay in prison? After six months they sent us to Berat, and a little later to the internment camp in Tepelena. I remember the journey from Berat to Tepelena: it was the day I saw dead people before my eyes for the first time. One of the cars that had been wrecked (it was transporting “anti-communists”) crashed, and at that very moment Mr. and Mrs. Turdiu lost their lives. From that moment, my childhood memories are painful.” Did you find children in the Tepelena camp, and what did you experience with them? The children in the camp are my most bitter memory. Together with them, so young, we experienced and witnessed the most monstrous things that can be done to a human being. There we saw people wasting away, struck by hunger, dysentery, and malaria; we saw burials and exhumations within just a few days, because the camp had become horrifying. But I also remember my fellow children who suffered the misfortune of their parents. Tragedies involving my fellow children often took place in a ruined warehouse inside the camp. The last time, my mother took me by the hand and led me to a bed with [??] and the bodies of children torn apart by hidden bombs. It was the unavoidable lesson of the internment camp, which my mother, with terror in her eyes and heart, was forced to show me in order to keep me alive. Almost all our mothers wore black.” But you [ua] must have some happy memories, too. Very few. In particular, I fondly remember with respect Tomorr Doshi, who cared a great deal about us children. Then, when I was 13, thanks to a fortunate opportunity, my uncle managed to get me out of the camp, and together we escaped from Albania.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR COOPERATION BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF TIRANA AND THE ITALIAN UNIVERSITY — Cooperation between Albanian and Italian universities will be expanded. Opportunities for such cooperation were discussed at a meeting between representatives of the University of Tirana and the University of Bologna. At the meeting, the possibility was raised of some lecturers and students in the social sciences going to Italy to attend summer schools held in Bologna. Recently, representatives of the University of Bologna had signed a cooperation agreement with the University of Shkodra. FIRST ISSUE OF THE “DEMOKRACIA” NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED — The newspaper “Demokracia” has been published. It is the organ of the “Union for Human Rights” Party. In its first issue, the newspaper dedicates its leading article to democracy. MEDICAL AID ARRIVES FOR RRESHEN HOSPITAL — A quantity of medical aid has arrived at Rrëshen Hospital. It was secured thanks to the efforts and activities of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The aid was sent by a medical clinic in Warsaw, Poland. It consists mainly of surgical equipment and medicines. Further opportunities will be created in the future to equip this hospital fully. O. Udhëheq… [?] for specialist courses in Poland. CULTURAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT SIGNED BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN “RUSKE” SOCIETY — A cooperation agreement has been signed in Tirana between the society that publishes the “Ruske” magazine and … [?] to develop cooperative relations and exchanges in various cultural fields between the two countries.

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