Battle after the Socialist Party rally in Kuçovë: two killed Vranicki returns to the issue of elections in Albania. From Washington, he has appealed: “Elections must be held” The armored vehicle that had escorted the politicians to an electoral meeting is described as engulfed in flames: 16 others injured BERAT - A massacre with an anti-tank weapon against the police at Ura Vajgurore. A van and a police armored vehicle that had escorted the leaders of the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party from Berat to Fier were badly attacked on their return by a group of armed people from a house beside the road. The armored vehicle was hit by an anti-tank projectile and caught fire. As a result, six police officers were injured, while one died. A young man, about 17 years old, was also killed. Three of the injured police officers, burned when the armored vehicle caught fire, were immediately taken to the hospital in Tirana, while the other three are still in the hospital in Berat. The police have not confirmed whether the cause was simply terrorism or whether the attack was connected with the politicians’ escort. On page 3 The police escort was returning from Fier, where it had escorted Nano and Gjinushi after the rally in Berat The former Austrian chancellor responds just one day after the proposal to postpone the elections in several areas of the country On page 3

SKRAPAR / A dispute over property causes a massacre in the village On page 5

THE PS LEADER’S TRIP TIRANA - Armed attack on Namik Dokle. He was traveling to a village in Kukës when ten armed men fired into the air and stopped his escort. For a full 20 minutes that Monday afternoon, shouting and attempts to break the deadlock continued. To the cries of “turn back, we don’t want you in Shtriqën,” the people protecting Dokle also responded with shots fired into the air. Everything would have ended in bloodshed if, for a moment, the doctors had not intervened and spoken to each other. The bodyguards of the Socialist leader escorted him, as did those from the village, while ten people blocked the road. The rally passed without incident, while Dokle made serious accusations against President Berisha. On page 3

Yesterday, the President in Vorë, Nano in Berat

Islami responds after the investigation is reopened in Rome

DEBTS / Berisha writes to Fino

Yesterday the President in Vorë, Nano in Berat . Debts, Berisha and Nano in a “war” of accusations. TIRANA—Berisha and Nano are accusing each other at their election rallies. “The Socialists’ promises to return all the money are a deception by irresponsible people,” the President said yesterday at a meeting with the residents of Vorë. Meanwhile, the leader of the SP told residents of Berat that Berisha himself was the cause of the catastrophe. Nano has also held other meetings and rallies in several areas near Berat and Fier, where he was joined by Prime Minister Fino. Yesterday in Vorë, Berisha introduced Astrit Deliadisi, the parliamentary candidate. Berisha praised this voter’s stance, which he described as “pro-democracy,” and called for a calm, peaceful campaign in which everyone would present their best alternatives. In Fier, Nano again told residents that he would make every effort to return all the lost money in full. The Socialist leader accused Berisha of causing the situation and urged the people of Fier to vote for his party. Berisha [photo].

Islami reacts after the investigation is reopened in Rome . Aid scandal? “Noise for the campaign.” TIRANA — The scandal over Italian aid to Albania was brought up by a court in Rome right in the middle of the election campaign. “All this has led us to think that certain mafia circles, directly involved in the pyramid schemes, are behind it”—this was the reaction yesterday of Islami, the SP spokesperson, to reports from Italy about a possible reopening of the investigation into this scandal, for which Fatos Nano had also been accused. Sanxhaku: “This matter has nothing to do with us. We consider it permanently closed on our part.”

DEBTS / Berisha writes to Fino . “Largo Malajn: I will be with you.” TIRANA — Berisha reminds Fino: “Intervention to ensure transparency regarding the debts.” In a letter sent yesterday to the Albanian Prime Minister, the head of state asked him to appoint an overseer for the pyramid firms, as well as Albanian and foreign experts to monitor them. “If you want to remove Minister Malaj, you have my support too.” In this way Berisha has all but called for the removal of the Finance Minister, about whom the President also has reservations. “Malaj, for personal reasons, and his party have opposed the implementation of legal obligations.” This is the first time Berisha has publicly called for the swift removal of the man in charge of Albania’s finances. Berisha has not let up on Malaj, saying he has gone backwards and done nothing during these four months as Finance Minister on the issue of transparency concerning the debts and their monitoring. Berisha reminds Fino that we must urgently appoint a commissioner and an overseer, and that it is up to the executive to intervene.

THE OTRANTO TRAGEDY. Albanian representatives arrived yesterday THE OTRANTO TRAGEDY. Survivors refuse the experts. Albanian representatives arrived yesterday. BRINDISI — “We don’t want the Albanian experts. Let them go back where they came from; they are no longer of any use to us.” The survivors of the Otranto Channel tragedy gave Skënder Dule and Skënder Dallaku, the two Albanian experts appointed to follow the case of the collision between the Albanian vessel “I katërti i Radës” and the Italian military vessel “Sibilla,” a very hostile reception. “Their arrival at this point is of no use,” Krenar Xhavara, “spokesperson for the survivors at the ‘Carafa’ barracks,” told Gazeta Shqiptare. “They cannot in any way help resolve the case, unless by further complicating it or possibly compromising these already suspect survivors in some other way.” Dule and Dallaku arrived in Italy on Monday evening and are staying at the “La Rosetta” hotel in Brindisi. Contacted by telephone by “Gazeta Shqiptare,” Skënder Dule did not wish to comment on their first meetings. “We were invited to give our opinion on a delicate matter,” Dule said. “We will prepare a report at the end of our work, which will also be made available to the press.” Meanwhile, according to the lawyer for the Albanian survivors, Giuseppe Antonio Maria Baffa, the Albanian experts should have had their first meetings with the Italian experts. As for his clients’ new protest, Baffa said: “If I receive a written request to stop the work of the Albanian experts, I can inform the prosecutor’s office, and they are not authorized to carry out any action. Nevertheless,” Baffa said, “with the opinion of the Albanian experts, the study and development of the means to retrieve the vessel would have been completed.” According to Xhavara, “the experts should have come to meet us at the barracks. We, after looking for them several times at the hotel where they are staying, even arranged a meeting, but they did not show up.” According to the survivors, the request for the Albanian experts to come to Italy was made in the first days after the sinking of the vessel “Sibilla,” but various bureaucratic obstacles, or deliberate ones, delayed their arrival. In fact, since May, the inspection from the vessel “The performer” has been carried out only in the presence of the Italian experts, Judge De Castris and Chief Prosecutor Giordano Bruno. The Albanian side had no representative.

. Every day, the programs of TVA and Alba TV. A guide for fans of the small screen in Tirana. On page 6.

. On equal terms against the Yugoslavs. Just six shots by Yugoslavia’s Olympiacos, but three goals for them. Bogdani scores for us. On page 4.