Three deaths in three days Causes still not identified. Suspicions also over powdered milk FIER. – Three newborn children have lost their lives in the Maternity Hospital of Fier. Over the course of three days – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – the babies were taken in by frequent diarrhoea and vomiting that lasted for hours. The situation was also difficult for several other infants, some of whom appear to have moved out of danger. The Tirana medical authorities have continued without putting forward any theory, and the final analyses that will reveal the mysterious “killer” of the children are still pending (ar. me. / zv.) ARMAND MAZO FIER – A mysterious infection has spread through the maternity ward in Fier. The type and cause of the spread of this phenomenon, which has cast a shadow of death over the cots of Fier’s babies, are still unclear. The only thing stated so far is that the disease that has affected this hospital ward – apparently an intestinal infection – has struck the little ones without it being possible to determine exactly what it is. Samples have been sent to the hospital centre for Hygiene and Epidemiology. By Friday there was still no final answer here either. Microbiologists are still working on the samples taken. The situation has also put the Ministry of Health on alert. On Thursday a meeting was held here with specialists to verify the situation in Fier. A few days earlier, a group of experts from Tirana had been at the city hospital. In fact, while waiting for the maternity doctors in the capital to send their colleagues in Fier the findings needed to determine the cause of any possible worsening of the situation. There are also many suspicions about the milk used for the babies. In this hospital – after being brought from a “home” – milk was used in the maternity ward. In this hospital – after being brought from a “foreign house” with several packets of milk, substitute breast-milk products from France were used. Samples of these products have reached Tirana and on Friday morning were subjected to bacteriological and toxicological analyses. But final results have still not been released for them either. Doctors, opposed to this practice and to the use of this type of milk, had long ago issued the first warning through the media, against the advertisements published in newspapers and on television. “Such a practice has very serious effects on children’s health,” says Teodor Todhe, a specialist at the Ministry of Health, “there have been cases in hospitals in various places where several babies of normal weight were not saved, because of this poor milk. For this reason, here too in Fier – amid the criticism that has arisen – its introduction has been banned.” Strict hygiene measures have now been taken throughout the maternity hospital and especially in the newborns’ ward. In all the water rooms – on the first floor of the hospital – disinfection has been carried out and one of the ward’s rooms has been closed off completely. While all the hands of the medical staff and the first signs of hope have appeared, the maternity doctors continue to regard the situation as an emergency.

Implementation of the program has begun TIRANE – Who will decide on painting the staircase? For a long time, who has the right to decide on repairing faults in sewage pipes, in the electrical wires that are connected to the public grid and affect several families in one building? Perhaps now the time has come for such problems, often very complicated for most Albanian families living in apartments, to be solved through normal procedures. A notice from the Ministry of Construction has announced that what is called “Housing Co-Ownership” has begun to be implemented. A study carried out some time ago by two specialists from the Housing Directorate – Antoneta Fona and Engjëll Gjoka – explains how these problems will be solved among tenants who are now considered owners not only of the privatized apartments but also of the shared parts of the building in which they live, the stairways, pipes, etc. The obligations and rights of each owner over the co-owned area of the building are directly proportional to the size of the apartment he owns. The study drawn up by the two specialists states that the shared obligations also include the expenses an owner must pay for improvements and maintenance of the co-owned parts. According to them, these expenses can often even exceed the amount previously paid as rent. But there is no need to worry, the specialists explain. Is it not to the benefit of many owners to have a property with an attractive, functional and well-maintained exterior? Someone may even, by expanding the dwelling, obtain a more comfortable and spacious home. The usefulness of this reasoning, it is explained, should be left to time to prove. The study also defines the way in which residents should be organized to solve such problems. It appears that a “residents’ meeting” will first be established, under a new meaning. These will be called Assemblies of Co-Owners and they will be the ones to take the important decisions. The Assembly will begin to function from the day the privatization is completed and the co-ownership documents are registered for the dwellings that once belonged to the communal housing enterprise. (p.re.)

He has been arrested LAC – The journey in this bus was packed with passengers. He held a defensive grenade tightly against his body. None of the many passengers had the slightest suspicion that their fellow traveller could “gift” death at any moment. It would have been enough for a minor traffic accident, one of those that unfortunately happen throughout traffic-clogged Albania, to trigger a bloodbath remembered for a long time. Fortunately, tragedy was averted thanks to the swift intervention of criminal police officers, who managed to neutralize the passenger carrying the “dangerous cargo” on his belt. It happened on Sunday evening in Milot, near the place known as the village of “Lapidari”. Z.N. – that is the name of the arrested man – was travelling on the regular Shkodër-Tiranë bus line. He is a resident of the village of Arucaj in the district of Lezhë. The frightening weapon was a defensive grenade with an effective range of 200 metres. It is used by the army and is often called a defensive grenade. Apart from the danger of the weapon he was carrying without a permit, the story has also made an impression because of the unusual arming of the passenger. “I had it to defend myself from my wife’s relatives,” Z.N. later stated in the investigation room. “Some time ago I kidnapped my wife and her people want revenge.” It is still not known how criminal police got on the trail of the unusual traveller. A few days earlier, colleagues from the group that made the arrest had said they had received complaints about a citizen from the Tirana district who was walking around with an unlicensed pistol. (N.A.)

– Another life sentence has been handed down by an Albanian court. According to the official news agency, the Court of Burrel has sentenced 21-year-old Ylli Lepuri from the village of Rreth-Baz to life imprisonment. The convicted man is accused of the following offences for which Lepuri was found guilty: murder for weak motives, intentional serious injury to two persons, possession of weapons without a permit, coercion to evade duty, military crime. This is the first time a court in Mat has handed down such a sentence.

Gratitude for the ambassador TIRANE – “Goodbye Albania.” William Ryerson, the United States Ambassador in Tiranë, marking the formal farewell to his departure from this post, has greeted the country where he has lived for almost three years in this way. It was only a farewell greeting and not a parting goodbye. “I will return,” he said, “but only as a tourist, as a friend.” The new U.S. ambassador is expected to arrive during this week. For Ryerson, Albania is the last country where he will carry out his diplomatic activity. After many years of work, now truly on the eve of retirement, he seems pleased that the “Land of the Eagles” has marked the end of his career, because “the farewell is always at the end,” he had declared some time ago to Gazeta Shqiptare. (ar. me.)

Local radio is damaged GJIROKASTER – The last fifteen days have not gone by well at all. In Gjirokastër, the victim of nature’s blind force has been the local radio station. A lightning strike that hit its building took one studio out of service. It had just been transferred from Radio-Tirana, and with it Radio-Gjirokastër had hoped that the quality of its broadcasts and radio signal would improve. Fortunately the existing 30-year-old equipment was spared, but now technicians will once again have to work for some time under difficult conditions in the only functioning studio, where programmes are prepared and broadcast. (R.K.)

Who has seen this girl? BARI – Elsa Claus, the 17-year-old Italian student who disappeared in Potenza on 12 September, may be in Albania. This was said by Nicola Solzo, a traffic policeman from Policoro, sent to Matera, who in a television interview stated that during two trips made to Albania on 10 January he asked in Durrës and Tiranë. He recognized Elisa Claus from a photo he himself had shown. The girl is thought to have been seen, according to several witnesses referred to by the same policeman, walking on a street in Tiranë. The Italian and Albanian police forces have been put on alert over this circumstance. IN THE INTERIOR USA-Iraq: new signs of war in the Persian Gulf Saddam’s troops only 30 kilometres from the border with Kuwait ON PAGE 2

DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SELL? DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO BUY? DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SELL? DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO BUY? Times are now exceptionally good economically. Send your notice with an address to one of our addresses: In Tiranë: Rruga Bajram Curri, 370, or in Bari: Viale Scipione l'Africano, 264. Tell us in your message what you are looking for and offering, your name and address. FOR RENT – A villa with 6 rooms in Durrës (te Hekurudha), near the Durrësi hotel, with twelve rooms and other facilities, two floors. For detailed information you can call Tirana no. 25722 from 24/00 or during the day and at 0039 after 16.00. FOR SALE – A house with a yard in Durrës, near the villa “Mira”, on “Vaso Pasha” street. Contact in Tiranë on telephone no. 25722 during the day and 00426 after 16.00. EXCHANGE – A two-room apartment and a kitchen, with bathroom and detailed basement, on the first floor, near the Kupës school, for an apartment with two rooms and a kitchen, inside the ring road and not on the first floor. Telephone contact is possible at any time of day at number 4210, Tiranë. FOR RENT – A shop with an area of 30 square metres. Address: Dëshmorët street, near 101 Optika. Free and zon. Tiranë. EXCHANGE – An apartment, two rooms and a kitchen, annex and spacious basement, modest, behind the Kupës school, for an apartment with two rooms and a kitchen inside the ring road and not on the first floor. Interested parties can call number 42108, Tiranë. FOR SALE – Near the Shoe Factory, a ground-floor kitchen, quality, one room, kitchen, hall. Tiranë. FOR SALE – A rented apartment, 3 rooms, kitchen and bathroom, furnished or empty, available 24 hours, equipped with an electric generator. Address: Rruga “Luigj Gurakuqi”, no. 66, 5th floor, Tiranë. WANTED – A rented apartment, good, with three rooms and a kitchen, or a two-room apartment and a kitchen in Tiranë. For more detailed information, contact: Albaniasped shpk, Rruga “Budi”, 76 Tiranë. Tel. 23921, tel/fax 42803. FOR SALE – A small house with a yard, in the centre of Tiranë. The house consists of three rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and is partially renovated. For information tel.: 22039. FOR SALE – An IBM compatible computer, 1 Mb RAM, 80 Mb hard disk, double drive, Philips monitor, Hercules video card, Nec printer P2200. For information tel.: 22039. FOR SALE – A house with a yard, two rooms and a kitchen on “Hafiz Ibrahimi Dalliu” street no. 9, Tiranë, (near the Party hospital). FOR RENT – A villa, 3 rooms, for rent for 6 months. Address: Rruga “Irfan Tomini”, near Kombinat, Tiranë. FOR RENT – A villa with 3 rooms and a kitchen, with regular water and electricity. Address: “Vaso Pasha” street. Contact in Tiranë on telephone no. 25722 during the day and 00426 after 16.00. FOR SALE – A good house with a yard, with 3 rooms, kitchen and bathroom annex, furnished, near the “Dinamo” stadium, Tiranë. FOR RENT – An apartment, two rooms and a kitchen in the centre of Tiranë, for rent. Interested parties should go to “Ali Demi” street, opposite the former “Partizani” factory. FOR RENT – A 3+1 apartment in Tiranë, furnished, south-facing, for rent in instalments. From the road there is another plot, from the west water included. You can call number 29114.

Lega Nord visits Albania A delegation from “Lega Nord” – composed of Senator Pleruxhi Coperçini, Massimo Vaili and Pedro Çeladini – was received in separate meetings by President of the Republic Sali Berisha and by officials of the Democratic Party, among them Tritan Shehu and Tomor Dosti. “The orientation, insistence on trains in Albania – they say – was voiced. It became one of the most useful ways to help Albania in a deep increase of the reforms in which it is moving slowly.” The assembly of Albanian blind people The National Assembly of the Association of the Blind of Albania has held its proceedings. The previous meeting examined their situation in all areas of the country. In a press release from the Association’s chairman, Sinan Tafa, it is stated that “there are still serious problems and a great deal of help must be ensured for them, especially in the countryside where coverage with low income is limited; the blind group do not benefit from the existing laws. There are words. The conference suggests that awareness should be raised for their strata and procedures should be carried out to give the National Centre of the Blind of Albania one of the vacant houses in Tiranë at its disposal.” In Kavajë, today, the satellite repeater Today satellite channel broadcasting will also begin in Kavajë for all families in the city. According to what is said, the channels that will appear on the Kavajë screens are TVE, RTE, Europasport, Italia 1, Kapla and similar, as well as a possible series from local stations. In the city, for several days now, “Electric Ken” has been installed. Through the operator of the equipment from the firm “Electric Ken” it has been announced that household equipment from Italy has arrived and the works have been completed for the amount of 1.16 million lire.

Zattere 1411 - Tel. 0039/41/781611 - Fax 781805 - Tlx 410045 Ferries for Passengers, Cars, Trucks DURRES - BARI - ANCONA TRIESTE - DURRES From DURRES to BARI: every Tuesday departs at 12.00 every Thursday departs at 12.00 every Sunday departs at 12.00 From DURRES to ANCONA: every Friday departs at 22.00 From DURRES to TRIESTE: every Wednesday departs at 19.00 every Saturday departs at 19.00 Agency in ALBANIA DURRES: DETARE SHITETRORE Tel. 052/22233 - Fax 22911 - Tlx 4148 Agency in ITALY BARI: AGESTA Srl - via Liside, 4 Tel. 0039/80/331555 - Fax 330628 - Tlx 810043 ANCONA: MARITIME AGENCY Srl - Via XXIX Settembre, 20 Tel. 0039/71/204916 - Fax 202296 - Tlx 500822 TRIESTE: AGEMAR Srl - Piazza Duca degli Abruzzi, 2/a Tel. 0039/40/363222 - Fax 77723 - Tlx 460089