EMBARGO / Intervention to enforce UN sanctions “No exchanges with Montenegro” TIRANA — A series of joint activities planned between the city of Shkodër and the Montenegrin authorities have aroused concern among foreign representatives who monitor the implementation of the embargo against the former Yugoslavia. As diplomatic sources confirmed, the foreign experts based in Tirana have made their concern known to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, which, for its part, has now proposed cancelling these activities. The good international image Albania has earned for respecting United Nations Resolution 728 was thus at risk of being tarnished. This is the resolution that specifically lays down the rules to be applied in relations with the now reduced Yugoslav state. For its part, the local administration in Shkodër has so far considered it normal to maintain cultural, sporting and medical contacts with its neighbours across the northern border. “Isn't culture precisely a means of fostering friendship among peoples, especially in such tense circumstances?” people in Shkodër have wondered, in a city traditionally eager for cultural contacts with the world. Some of the activities have even taken place—many remember the sporting events organized as recently as these past few days—while others are still being organized. Great care has been taken to preserve the economic embargo, and despite the smuggling that continues to transport fuel, the results have been evident. Here, the actions of the Public Order Police and the Financial Police of this city must undoubtedly be mentioned first. But it had been forgotten that one of the articles of the UN Resolution also defines the development of cultural relations as a violation. It was precisely this point that members of the international anti-embargo mission reminded their Albanian colleagues of. Meanwhile, the Montenegrins themselves are interested in overcoming the boycott imposed on them from every side. And, in this policy, Albania is certainly one of the main targets. A group of specialists from the Montenegrin Football Federation has been in Albania for several days. The aim of the Montenegrin football leaders is to explore the possibility of organizing a series of joint activities with Albanian footballers. Now, it is very likely that their Albanian trip will not prove particularly fruitful. The Albanian authorities are now determined to respect the embargo in the field of sporting and cultural contacts as well. p.re.

KOPLIK — This is the other side of the embargo story, which has now been going on for a long time. For the whole country, but especially for the northernmost district, its implementation has now become an obstacle to economic development. Surrounded across most of their territory by the state borders of the former Yugoslavia, these districts are now bearing the burden of isolation most heavily, as it suffocates their economy. The most recent example is a report circulated by official press sources. In the district of Malësia e Madhe, private companies have begun to go bankrupt. Their current number in this district is 92, far fewer than last year. Only 552 people are officially employed in the private sector, at a time when the population of this mountainous district urgently needs jobs. The same source reports that one of the well-known companies, “Vatnikaj,” which previously employed nearly 100 people, is now on the verge of bankruptcy. These are just some of the worrying figures coming from the districts bordering the former Yugoslavia.

Exposed by the police TIRANA — They robbed the safe of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth in Albania. This time, however, investigators are convinced that it was an inside job. For this reason, on Sunday afternoon, the Public Order authorities at Tirana Police Station 2 detained Arjan Hoxha and Roland Saliu, both guards at this Islamic institution. The specialists' initial account accuses Hoxha and Saliu of having “acted in collusion with one another and, with the help of fake keys, managed to open the finance office, from whose safe they took 300 dollars as well as an amount of lekë equivalent to around 700 dollars.” Immediately after the complaint, the Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal case, while following the latest incident the case of two earlier robberies at the World Assembly of Muslim Youth in Albania was reopened. Although not yet fully confirmed, Hoxha, 20, and Saliu, 18, are also suspected of embezzling—using the same method—1,400 dollars as well as fuel coupons for 750 litres of diesel, thefts verified some time ago but not reported by officials of the Islamic institution. After the two guards were detained—they are now in Tirana Prison—some of the money they stole has also been recovered. (e.d)

MAT — The number of hunger-striking miners taken urgently to the Kransta Hospital has reached ten. Since last Thursday, 63 workers from the Kransta mine have been underground in the depths of the mine—about two thousand metres down—and refuse to come out “until all the demands submitted to the Government are met.” Meanwhile, official sources report that after a meeting between the Minister of Mineral and Energy Resources, Abdyl Xhaja, and representatives of the strike, all the demands were met and “agreement was not reached only on raising wages by up to 50 per cent.” Meanwhile, just one day after the hunger strike began, all members of the enterprise's Board of Directors were immediately suspended. This measure, as well as the proposal to Prime Minister Meksi to establish an interministerial commission to closely monitor the town of Krrasta's economic and social problems, has still not brought the hunger strikers up from the depths of the mine. The delay in reaching an acceptable agreement is expected to have consequences, since, as doctors also point out, the place where the strike is taking place is very damp, has low temperatures and, above all, lacks air. (p.re)

NEFINK, painful figures More than 60 victims have been brought back to Albania in 1994 alone TIRANA — Emigration continues to kill. It no longer brings only money, but unfortunately death as well. Every week, the lifeless bodies of emigrants are brought back to Albania from abroad. Many are young; others are even parents whom the dream of a better life has driven to leave their families and work far from their homeland. It is a dream that, unfortunately, is often ending inside the wooden boxes of coffins. In just the first months of this year, figures from the Nefink office, the funeral service for Albanians who die abroad, record nearly 60 cases. Most were emigrants who had lived in Greece—more than 20 people—and in Italy, where there were over 10 cases. Smaller numbers are reported for other countries such as the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, France and Germany. “For all these cases, the Albanian state itself pays the expenses under a special government decision,” Edmond Plaku, head of Nefink, explained to the Albanian Gazette. “We transport the bodies or pay the costs when the transport is carried out by the victim's family itself.” The figures provided by Nefink are nevertheless believed to be lower, since the costs of bringing back emigrants' bodies have often been covered in more than 120 cases. Providing funeral services for Albanians requires a large amount of funding to cover the expenses, which in such cases are very high. Thus, in these months alone in 1994, more than 35 thousand dollars have been spent, and this amount is expected to double in the coming months. But while this aspect—which is considered the most complicated—has more or less been resolved, the issue of the visas needed by the drivers providing this service remains a problem. Thus, the recent political and diplomatic tensions between Albania and Greece have—unaccountably—made themselves felt in these cases as well. (text missing at the end of the photograph/page) and Greece have led—unaccountably—to their effects being reflected in these cases too. Meanwhile, faxes are arriving from Greece requesting the recovery of the bodies of deceased Albanians. The Greek Embassy in Tirana has not issued visas for some time. Ar. Me.

MALLAKASTER, A YOUNG MAN KILLED OVER PROPERTY — The property dispute is thought to have led to the shooting death of Selami Çaushi, 26, from Aranitasit in Mallakastër. For some time, a former property of his, a piece of reclaimed land, had caused disputes between Çaushi and various people. This is the hypothesis put forward so far by the Police authorities, who are continuing their investigation to identify the perpetrator of the murder. LEZHE, THE ANCIENT CITY WITHOUT A SINGLE MUSEUM — The city of Lezhë is now left without a single museum. The only building—the Ethnographic Museum—where numerous items of scientific value were exhibited is now just a shell. Most of the museum’s valuable objects have been stolen, while the rest have been damaged to such an extent that they can no longer be displayed to the public. DURRES, 18 MILLION LEK FOR WATER-SUPPLY PIPELINES — 16 million lek have been allocated to replace sections of the water-supply pipelines in the district of Durrës. The old pipelines will be replaced in the part of the water-supply system that ran through the city’s former canals and had become almost completely worn out. The resulting losses amounted to 50 litres of water per second. A tender will soon be organized for the company that will undertake this project. PARLIAMENT SETS ITS WORK PLAN UNTIL JULY — Parliament’s work plan has been set through the month of July. Following review by the relevant committees, the amnesty laws and matters discussed on several fronts include the “Criminal Code of the Republic of Albania,” the “Regulation of agricultural land for compensation purposes,” as well as the ratification of several agreements.

Air transport TIRANA — The new air route between Tirana and Bologna has been closed only a short time after its inauguration. The aircraft of the Albanian company “Albanian Airlines”—which had taken off only five times—has not returned to the airport of the Italian city. The immediate suspension was caused by the Italian partner, the company “Agrie Co. S.r.l.”, failing to comply with one clause of the contract. The company did not have the required bank guarantee for the ticket sales. While the route remains suspended, the Albanian side is trying to find ways to bring it back into operation. “We have made concessions and are reviewing some clauses of the contract,” Valter Bedini, administrator of “Albanian Airlines,” told Gazeta Shqiptare. “If the Italian partner takes action, we may perhaps resume flights next week. We ourselves are very interested in this route.”

Investors seek security for the land plots TIRANA — Work will soon begin in the capital on the construction of an entirely new residential complex, where European standards will be combined with Albanian design traditions. The investor is the limited-liability company “Mac Rae International,” which has also received approval from the Territorial Adjustment Council to build in the area known as “Kodra e priftit.” The project envisages the construction of a variety of villas and apartments, a nearby shopping centre, offices and a hotel, as well as public services around a park and an ornamental lake. The surrounding environment has not been forgotten either. The plan is to plant 10,000 trees and to provide the buildings with high-quality roads. The investors will install a drinking-water network as well as a wastewater-treatment system. They expect the work to be completed in November of this year. But even in this case, there still seem to be difficulties to overcome. One of them is the illegal construction carried out in the designated investment area. For this reason, the directors of “Mac Rae International” have asked the authorities to authorize the construction police to act to prevent further illegal building and to enforce the law by demolishing the existing structures. They have also requested the appointment of a senior official to resolve any disputes that may arise with the former owners of the plots on which the construction in question will take place.

PPD accusation TIRANA — There is a silent coalition between the ruling Democratic Party and its main opposition, the Socialist Party. This was one of the opinions expressed by the leaders of the Democratic Right Party, Abdi Baleta and Petrit Kalakula, at a press conference they held for journalists. According to them, the two political forces have many almost identical positions on crucial issues of the transition, which point to a coalition between them. Among these, they mentioned the laws on privatization and the return of property, as well as the failure to “carry the administrative reform through to the end.”

REALITY, IN ITALICS TIRANA — The Albanian nobility continues to cause quite a headache, and one of the most important international associations is involved. The “American College of Heraldry” has been put in a difficult position by one of its donors, who now claims to hold one of the purest Albanian noble titles. Its secretary has written to the Ministry of Culture. “We know that the Albanian Association of Emblems and Genealogies was closed down by your Government last year, but nevertheless it is the nobility that has existed for a long time, when its activity was legal, and perhaps it may still be considered valid,” writes the concerned nobleman from Alabama. Last summer, more than the existence of this association in Albania, what caused concern was its somewhat unusual activity. An English Lord had taken advantage of its legalization to sell foreign people, fascinated by titles of nobility, the designation of count or duke for a hefty sum of 2,000 dollars. Fortunately, this activity was discovered in time; otherwise, today we would have had more Albanian nobles around the world than there were in the country during the Middle Ages. Fatos Baxhaku

With the delegation of the European Democratic Union TIRANA — Providing information on the development and state of the free press in Albania from the perspective of Albanian journalists themselves. This was the purpose of the discussion held at the Palace of Congresses between a delegation of the European Democratic Union (EDU)—which included Prof. Dr. Andreas Khöl, the union’s executive secretary—and a group of Albanian journalists from various organizations. While acknowledging the development of the free press in Albania in recent years, the journalists noted in their discussion the existence of a dual tendency: abuse of press freedom on the one hand, and attempts to restrict it on the other. Several speakers said that a considerable part of the press and mass media continues to be politicized, and that the independent press remains limited, almost a minority. It is precisely the latter—which receives no financial support from either political forces or the state—that is greatly endangered by the harsh laws of bankruptcy in the market economy.

YESTERDAY IN ALBANIA Air transport Investors seek security for the land plots PPD accusation

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