What Albania should do, according to the Political Committee TIRANA - “Admission to the Council of Europe, but you must abolish the death penalty and improve the situation of minorities.” News about Albania is once again coming from Strasbourg. Just one day after the positive decision by the Political Committee of the Council of Europe, the British news agency Reuter, one of the most trusted in the whole world, circulated the announcement. Europe, therefore, has not dropped its demands—recommendations, suggestions; the terms are given different meanings—for the development of democracy in Albania. Of the two demands, the one that seems most unexpected is precisely the one concerning the abolition of the death penalty. While the call to improve the treatment of minorities was more or less expected—Selami had also spoken in Strasbourg about the Greeks’ demands, and in his closing remarks had promised that they would be examined—the demand to abolish the death penalty seems unexpected. So far, official sources have remained silent about the true substance of this demand, but the contents of the draft decision drawn up in confidence by the political rapporteur for Albania, Belgian Kelchtermans, may help clarify it. It was precisely the Belgian’s report that had expressed a favourable opinion on Albania’s admission to the Council of Europe Assembly, allocating it four seats, while at the same time setting several conditions—“sous réserve que l’Albanie ait l’intention de...”, Kelchtermans had written in French—which, in his opinion, Albania should fulfil. It is not yet known whether these were also adopted word for word in the final version of the committee’s decision, but it is very likely that they were. Here are Kelchtermans’s conditions: “On condition that Albania intends to: 1. sign the European Convention on Human Rights; 2. do everything possible to sign, within a reasonable period, Protocol No. 6 to the Convention concerning the abolition of the death penalty; 3. sign and ratify the Convention for the Prevention of Torture; 4. sign the Convention on the Treatment of Minorities and facilitate all of them on the basis of the principles of Assembly Recommendation 1201 (1993), recommends that Albania be invited to join the Council of Europe and that 1. it be granted 4 seats in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.” According to the rapporteur, Albanian democracy still has a long way to go. In several of the many points in which he sets out his views, he addresses the difficulties faced by Albania’s fragile democracy. “The legal, penal and administrative systems will continue to be the subject of criticism,” point 9 of the draft decision states. “The elements of legal culture needed by a state governed by the rule of law require more time to take root than the elements of a market economy, but progress under difficult material conditions must be recognised.” Photos: Baxhaku

Yesterday in Rome it was decided: “Troops in Apulia” Soldiers against refugees On the coast opposite Albania TIRANA - Italy will deploy the army to deal with the wave of undocumented refugees arriving from the Albanian coast. Many special units of the armed forces and the police will be sent specifically to the Apulia region. This was decided yesterday afternoon in Rome, through a decree-law extending the role of the armed forces to Apulia, directly opposite the Albanian coast, “in the event of a threat to public peace and state order.” The operation involving Italian troops will be financed with an additional fund of five billion lire (3 billion for the Ministry of Defence and 2 billion for the Ministry of the Interior). Italy has thus made its decision: the army against the hopes of emigrants. Those undocumented migrants who—driven by economic motives—are prepared to make every sacrifice will now find armed soldiers facing them. A measure that cannot pass without consequences across the Adriatic. The use of military forces in such delicate situations was first employed in recent years in July 1992, the month in which Judge Borsellino was brutally murdered by the Mafia along with his escort. Immediately after the attack, the Italian government sent substantial military forces to Sicily, where they combed the entire area covered by the operation, which at the time bore the codename “Grenxa.” Calls for army intervention to stop Albanian or Asian refugees arriving from the coasts of Vlora and Durrës had often been made publicly by right-wing Italian politicians, and debates in the press and political arena had often become heated. Until now, only local Italian law-enforcement agencies had intervened to stop the stream of undocumented migrants, but apparently their forces and resources have proved insufficient to deal with the situation. p.re.

TIRANA - Fifteen hours spent witnessing her family members die. This tragic, almost unbelievable story befell a family of four. The only witnesses to this superhuman suffering are a woman and her young daughter, who are now at Tirana’s Military Hospital. It happened almost a week ago, on the road to Himara. The family was travelling in the car driven that day by its head, Kristaq Koci, 40, as they were going to his native village in Myzeqe. Just outside Himara, Kristaq lost control of the car. After rolling over many times, the car—now reduced to a heap of bloodstained scrap metal—came to rest on a ledge of the steep slope. All four family members were seriously injured, but were able to communicate with one another without being able to make even the slightest movement. For fifteen hours straight, all four watched in horror as their loved ones agonised. “All four of us were trapped by the wrecked car,” the woman recounts in anguish. “My husband kept begging me to get out and save the children. He was badly injured and had something lodged in his chest; the boy was too. My legs were trapped. It was three in the afternoon. A few hours later my husband died. My son begged me to save him. I screamed, but no one could hear me; the rescuers were far away. At midnight my son died. His mouth was full of blood. Only the next morning did I first see a living creature: it was a sheep that came near. Then a shepherd came; he helped me get out...” The woman was thus saved only thanks to a stray sheep. Now she is passing her days in a ward at the Military Hospital, with casts from head to toe; beside her is her three-year-old daughter, also injured. The memory of those terrifying hours will not leave her mind, when she could do nothing but watch life drain from the bodies of her loved ones. A helicopter set off from Tirana the day after the accident for Bulqizë, Kristaq’s native village. On board, lying on a simple stretcher, was the injured woman. Despite her serious condition, she refused to miss the funeral of her husband and son. Mentor Kikia

Optimism in Tirana after the visit of the senior official TIRANA - Optimism in Tirana following talks with the High Representative of the European Union, Van der Broek, Vice-President of the EU Commission for relations with Central and Eastern Europe, has made positive assessments of developments in Albania while also offering another encouraging promise. “An agreement between your country and the EU may be reached soon,” he said in meetings with senior Albanian officials, confirming this also during a press conference he held together with Sërreqi. “It is time for cooperation at a higher level,” Van der Broek said yesterday. “An agreement with the EU will be extremely important both for Albania and for the region itself.” To achieve association in the coming weeks, joint teams will analyse cooperation to date, particularly in the field of trade, and present as detailed a report as possible. According to Van der Broek, “the result will be good. But these,” the EU official added, “are decisions that must be made with the governments of the member countries.” Van der Broek

A serious fault leaves the city without power The electric utility: “It will continue for another 10 days” LIBRAZHD—Total darkness has taken over the city of Librazhd. For three days, following a serious fault—the local transformer has burned out—residents of Librazhd have had no electricity and are relying only on candles. Meanwhile, the sudden energy crisis has immediately been exploited in the neighboring city of Elbasan, where the price of bread has risen to 60 lekë. Under these circumstances, the local authorities have decided to take the electricity supplied by the small hydroelectric plant in the village of Lunik away from the villagers and redirect it to bakeries, hospitals, and street lighting. The severe “blackout”—despite the efforts of the Tirana Energy Directorate’s vehicles—is expected to continue for another 10–12 days. As the Librazhd Electric Utility explains, the heavy transformer must be installed first and then repaired at the Metallurgical Combine. Efforts to obtain a new transformer have also failed. (m.k)

TIRANA—The protest demonstration is turning into a picnic. This is the remaining option for the Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania, following the efforts—made by the chairman’s two commissions—concerning the demonstrations announced for May 1. As has now been decided, the Confederation’s union protest will take place inside a hall in the former “Ali Kelmendi” Palace of Culture, and will then continue as a picnic in the Grand Park near Tirana’s artificial lake. In this way, the police authorities have prepared another solution to the Confederation’s plan to demonstrate on the capital’s main boulevard, which was intended to increase... (the rest of the text is unclear)

LAÇ—Laç, too, is now included in Albania’s projects for environmental protection. LAÇ—Now Laç, too, is included in Albania’s projects for environmental protection. Engineers from the most polluted city in Albania—where sulfur gas levels are extremely high—have recently turned to awareness-raising activities, as well as ways to protect against this danger. Thus, following a major alarm, Albania’s projects include a project in Kuçova, Ballshi, Fier, and Rubik. The Regional Environmental Station... (the rest of the text is illegible)

It happened on the Shkodër train The victim, still unidentified, remains a mystery TIRANA—To die deliberately. For two days, the suicide of a person around 35 years old has remained the only open line of inquiry. Neither the person’s name nor age, nor the motives that prompted him to throw himself under the train carriages, are known. For two days, the unidentified person—possibly 35 years old—has been lying in the Tirana morgue, while investigators are trying to discover something about him. According to staff on the Tirana–Shkodër train, which was running at 17:30, the victim had stepped in front of the locomotive, forcing the driver to stop. But even that did not persuade the man who wanted to die to change his mind. Having moved away from the tracks—the guard [unclear]—he waited for the very last carriage, meeting his fatal end in a manner of his own choosing. (d.b) In the Shkumbin Woman found drowned PEQIN—She had been away from her home for a week and was found drowned two days ago in the muddy waters of the Shkumbin. Thus ended the mysterious adventure of 28-year-old Florina Ktibashi—from the village of Paper in Elbasan—whose body was spotted in the river by some villagers at the entrance to the town of Peqin. At the time she was identified, [unclear] and [unclear] 300 dollars, while the police found no signs of violence on her body. The suicide theory has so far not been explained, even by the victim’s family. ... (M.k)

The Strasbourg meeting also calls for the expansion of the rights of national minorities

INSIDE

Easter in the bathroom On page 3 Pensioners died, [text unclear] On page 3 Albanian Rally begins On page 3 The latest news from around the world On page 2

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