TIRANË — Another Italian aid scandal may be about to emerge. This time the denunciation does not concern a lot of money, nor the already well-known scandal involving the “passenger oil wagons.” Now the issue involves a certain number of wagons that arrived as aid from the Italian State Railways to the Albanian railways, over which a serious cloud of suspicion now hangs, according to an official complaint filed in recent days with the Rome prosecutor’s office by the well-known environmental organization Greenpeace, known for its work on pesticide issues. MYSTERY A serious denunciation by the environmental group Greenpeace: in 1992 Rome exported, as aid, 20 wagons coated with a layer of toxic material. The Italian prosecutor’s office opens an investigation Italy donated an entire train of cancer-causing wagons to Albania TIRANË — Another Italian aid scandal may be about to emerge. This time the denunciation does not concern a lot of money, nor the already well-known scandal involving the “passenger oil wagons.” Now a certain number of wagons that arrived as aid from the Italian State Railways to the Albanian railways, over which a serious cloud of suspicion now hangs, according to an official complaint filed in recent days with the Rome prosecutor’s office by the well-known environmental organization Greenpeace, known for its work on pesticide issues, are said to be dangerous to passengers’ health because their interior upholstery contains asbestos, the use of which has been banned by special laws in several European countries, including Italy, because it has been found to be a possible cause of a number of diseases, including cancer. Greenpeace announced its findings at a press conference in Rome, where it also presented several recordings from the Italian railways on cooperation with Albanian Railways and on the general condition of the Albanian rail network. “The footage filmed at Durrës station,” said Gianni Squitieri, director of Greenpeace, “shows a large number of such wagons joined together” — with asbestos. These in particular arrived in Albania in the summer of 1992, at a time when the law banning asbestos had already been approved long before and was expected to enter into force within days. Now Greenpeace, through the complaint submitted to the Rome prosecutor’s office, has asked that full light be shed on the responsibility of the Italian railways and that, in the first place, the responsible authorities fulfill their duties in this case. The same organization has asked the Italian Minister of the Environment to take measures so that such activity is not repeated. The examination carried out by a passenger train expert has concerned only Albania. The Greenpeace complaint also mentions other countries of the former communist East. Around 60 suspicious wagons that were still to arrive in Bulgaria and Ukraine were seized in time at Padua station. Greenpeace is meanwhile trying to verify whether such wagons are still in circulation on the Italian railways, despite the law that should have been enforced long ago. According to Italian environmentalists, all six Italian shipments involve more than 2,500 such wagons in circulation, belonging to two categories that should be arrested. Every day. The wagons in circulation have become a danger to people — Greenpeace stressed — often during our inspections in Italy we have found them in various residential environments. The evidence published today about Albania is only part of the major campaign we have undertaken to make the responsibilities of the Italian railways invalid.” (Illegible sections / unclear text in the left central column)[?]

Still Albanian victims The Serbs shoot: 2 killings at the border The authorities in Belgrade say the migrants who entered Kosovo were armed TIRANË — “Another incident on Albania’s borders. This time the event has shifted north, where two Albanians were killed by Serbian guards while trying to cross into the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The Belgrade soldiers, some 300 meters from Yugoslav soil, fired with firearms at the two unarmed Albanians. The tragic incident reportedly took place around 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday — so far only the Serbian version has been known, and there has been no official statement from the Albanian side during the day — near the area of Liken, in southern Kosovo. Two Albanians, who according to Belgrade were armed, crossed the Albanian border and entered illegally into former Yugoslavia. It was precisely here that the incident occurred for which the Serbs accuse the Albanians. When ordered to stop, they responded with gunfire. For this reason, the Serbian border guards were forced to shoot, leaving the two Albanians dead on the spot. The Wednesday incident was not the first. Since January 1993, more than 20 Albanians have been killed or wounded on the border between Albania and former Yugoslavia. And in almost all cases, official Serbian sources have tried to distort events by blaming the Albanian side.

Oil toward Montenegro CARLO BOLLINO TIRANË — “It is true, this is a period in which smuggling between Albania and Montenegro is extremely strong. Just think that in Albania an average amount of oil is imported that is at least double what is consumed in the country. We are now investigating to find out who is running this traffic.” Antonio Napolitano speaks, the international officer for the Albanian office of the United States, which monitors compliance with the embargo against Serbia and Montenegro. He has come to Albania to meet, among others, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Public Order, the Minister of Defense and the Minister of Economy after a day spent on a special mission in Macedonia. These are days of controversy precisely over the phenomenon of smuggling. Dozens of tanker trucks loaded with oil that cross the country every night continue to fuel suspicions. But what is the real scale of this traffic? “Unfortunately the phenomenon is widespread,” replies the head of the Embassy, Napolitano, “while in many places we constantly monitor smuggling through the net. Here this is happening a lot in Albania in particular. Serbia and Montenegro have a greater need for fuel and try to obtain it بأي means. Traffickers move a lot; for every liter of gasoline, the Serbs pay Albanian smugglers 30 marks more than the market price. Some anonymous witnesses mention the same convoy of tankers coming to the border between Albania and Montenegro. Others — among them your representative in Albania, Franco Letrari — argue that no truck passes. What is the truth? “We know that exactly 90 percent of the smuggling takes place through transport via Lake Shkodra or the Buna River. Toward the other borders, it enters by a long road through forests and mountains, and other illicit routes are used. Of course we cannot rule out that in reality some truck manages to get through, but these are rare episodes.” Have you managed to measure the amount of fuel secretly exported toward Montenegro? “The exact figures are not known, but we estimate that there has been a very large increase in fuel imports arriving in Albania from Greece and Italy. It is a huge amount: Albania today has formally — and legally — at least twice the fuel needed for domestic use. Between the month of ... and June 1994, only in Greece were there 12,000 barrels of oil. That is 2 million liters.” In what way do you intervene to block this phenomenon? “We help local authorities identify distribution centers. When we catch something, the Ministry of Public Order has helped this time with many penalties. We expect that checks will also be needed at foreign suppliers.” Do you know the responsible people behind this illegal traffic? “We have launched an investigation to make sure who does it and who sells the fuel. Of course we also investigate through the authorities of the countries involved. From them we continue to have maximum cooperation, and this is essential to express blocking of the phenomenon.”

TIRANË — “We will return to the market with the newspaper again, even if the fine will cost us dearly.” One day after the strict decision of the Tirana Court to block all materials and offices of the daily Koha Jonë, its director told Gazeta Shqiptare that they were ready to continue publishing the newspaper, even illegally. “Anyway — writes the citizens of Koha Jonë for publication — the court had ordered our closure in its offices, and several other cities have final decisions.” “The problem is purely economic — the director of the printing house (in Tirana?) who also filed the lawsuit tells Gazeta Shqiptare — Koha Jonë will be required from January to pay around 51 thousand dollars. In conditions where we had warned them several times, the continuous printing? for the financial operation of the printing house had truly become difficult. We were forced to send a civil lawsuit to the Waterworks.” Meanwhile, the payment delay of Koha Jonë is increasing with every annual fee. On Friday the Tirana Court issued an executive order for the seizure of property and Koha Jonë must prepare the lawsuit fund against it within 45 days.

TIRANË — Parliament is giving Albania its new Civil Code, which will form an important basis for the foundations of the new democratic state. This Code will enshrine the new relations that have emerged in Albanian society. Its most important decision concerns private property, which previously did not exist, as well as the new relationships it is expected to create. Through it, foreign investments in Albania and their protection will now also be fully regulated, a decisive factor in the country’s further development. For the drafting of this Code, Albanian specialists relied on the most advanced European laws. In fact, foreign specialists from the European Community also worked alongside them.

Asians with the stamp of the Albanian Embassy TIRANË — A visa stamp from the Albanian Embassy in Beijing has arrived in Albania. A counterfeit, and its “owner” — the Chinese citizen Wu Guang, from Zhejiang province — ended up in Vercelli prison for illegal migration. The person reported had, according to the initial account, been stopped by officers of the Commandant, then became entangled in suspicions together with an Italian, Michele Bassi, and the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office began criminal proceedings against the Chinese man, who is now facing charges of “forgery of documents.” Still — because of investigative secrecy — no detailed information has been made public about the reasons used by the Albanian Embassy in Beijing. Possibly helped by this “diplomat” in the world of emigration, five other Chinese citizens also ended up in Tirana prison, all accused of “illegal border crossing” after being unexpectedly found in a district of the Albanian capital. (Ed.Lu)

Drugs, a business ELBASAN — Albanian village-grown drugs are discovered again. A villager from Gjinar, 23-year-old Tomor Binjaku, has been arrested by the Elbasan Police. Binjaku is accused of the use and production of narcotic plants. In his yard, police say, police experts immediately identified Cannabis sativa, the raw material for marijuana, a plant that is becoming more and more “familiar.” According to preliminary investigations not yet fully confirmed, Binjaku is said to have brought the cannabis seed from Greece. At the same time, it was said that the young man had received from his Greek “partners” a sum of 3 million drachmas for the cultivation of the precious reed. But as the plant began to grow, its unusually large size aroused the first suspicions, which led to investigations and then to the arrest of the young villager and the destruction of the illegal plantation. (Me. Kl.)

War against the “water thieves” On page 3 Initiative for clean beaches On page 3 Cuffs on the Berlusconi family On page 2

ELBASAN — The death road in Elbasan — the stretch of road connecting the city with Metalurgjiku — has once again claimed a female victim. She is Lirum Hida, 12 years old [?], from the city, who was struck by a car; Vefaq Hida was driving on the road. According to the police, the girl was playing at the edge of the sidewalk. The young victim lost her life in an automobile accident only two months ago; now it seems to have taken on the dimensions of an urban legend, one that has stamped with death, almost without anyone noticing, many others, not only members of her family, but also causing the people of Elbasan, based on this fact, to increasingly see it as at least a deadly and “cursed” road. (M. Kl.)

CURSIVE REALITY TIRANË — It risked turning into a serious incident but ended only with an almost forgotten conversation among people of different nationalities. The main protagonists were a young Arab girl, whom someone — apparently a young Greek man — had tried to assault in one of the stalls at the International Center in the capital. More precisely, someone seems to have thought of taking advantage of the jostling of visitors before “Expo Tirana.” One of the American women managed to escape the attacker and join her two companions. It was precisely there that the almost forgotten dialogue began between some of the Center’s staff and visitors and the small group, including the Americans. While it was possible to get a report, the group of Albanians — who proved quite willing to help — could understand nothing, since the overlapping of voices and signs made communication difficult. By the time it became clear what had happened and what the American wanted, a long time had passed, if we may say so, and the assailant remained anonymous, having fled quickly. The young girl did not wish to reveal anything about her identity, not even the purpose of her trip to Albania. (ta. ba.) International Center of Culture

A disgraceful swindle against a villager DURRËS — He had a real sheep, but sold it as if it were fake. The curious and at the same time painful story centers on the villager from Lush i Vogël, who a few days ago had gone with his son to the market in the city of Durrës. Several kilometers of road, especially those toward the white houses, were not easy for the 45-year-old villager, because the buyer had approached quickly and had not objected much to the “steep” price. But precisely at that moment, when the buyer offered the young ram, the villager realized that he had been deceived. Quick-witted people, by way of a bribe, told him that the banknotes for the ram — all in 1,000 lek denominations — were fake. Things began. And the cheated villager set off again for the city, this time asking “the Bank” to buy his fake banknotes. But by then the bank employees could not confirm the villager’s claim. At best, they could keep the real buyer of his fake ram. Main square of Durrës