Meeting with Islam: How crime and corruption will be fought Troika: Kosovo just like Chechnya Europe’s people in Tirana: The new model TIRANA - Tyrol or Chechnya: that is Kosovo’s postwar status according to the European Union. Representatives of the European troika visited Tirana yesterday, where they made the Albanian authorities aware of their approach to resolving the Kosovo issue. Meta confirmed to them that official Tirana favors a status ranging from a Republic within the Yugoslav Federation to the right of self-determination. In any case, it is up to the people of Kosovo to decide, and the conditions must be created for them to express their choice. By creating the conditions, Meta means ending the Serbian offensive and beginning negotiations. The Albanian authorities have called for relations between Tirana and Brussels to be raised to a higher level, as an interim stage before the association agreement. Continued on page 3

REPORTAGE / Where and how drugs are sold TIRANA - I wandered in my solitude, and so I could not go on any longer. It seemed very difficult to cope with this filthy life, in which [unclear in source], I fell and finally [unclear in source]. “Damn this life.” People’s vacant eyes turned their gaze toward me, and I could no longer bear their “happy” faces, their quick steps, their pace. I wanted to understand amid what so many close friends had told me: try it, and you’ll understand that this world is not just a black spot; it is the everyday hell we all live in. Someone had told me that [unclear in source] selling a joint... On page 8

The great danger of indifference CARLO BOLLINO The real horror of what is happening in Kosovo is the world’s indifference. The daily chronicles of violence, of that interethnic conflict so much like the atrocities we have seen before in the same Yugoslavia, have been entrusted to TAN-JUG (that is, one of the parties to the war), one of the main cogs in that sophisticated propaganda machine, mentally orchestrated by Slobodan Milosheviç. Even images of massacres, houses in flames, and Serbian soldiers firing at those Albanians who Continued on page 2

After bitter disputes between political parties, the President’s rejection is expected The President does not sign the law: it is to be returned to Parliament “It creates opportunities for abuses of human rights” After bitter disputes between political parties, the President’s rejection is expected Meidani blocks SHIK The President does not sign the law: it is to be returned to Parliament “It creates opportunities for abuses of human rights” TIRANA - “Meidani will return the law on SHIK to Parliament,” a political source close to the Albanian President has said. Meanwhile, an appeal not to sign the new law on the secret services has been made to the head of state not only by the opposition, but also by some of the highest-ranking representatives of the parliamentary majority. The President’s staff have neither confirmed nor denied whether Meidani will return the law to Parliament. They have said that the head of state is studying the law, emphasizing the aspect of respect for human rights. But it is precisely this point—or, more specifically, Article 13 of the law on SHIK—about which Meidani has reservations, since it creates scope for abuses of these rights when [unclear in source] has been declared their protector and guarantor. President Meidani during the oath-taking in Parliament

FATOS BAXHAKU They had been weeping bitterly, carrying in their eyes the image of a man mutilated by cruel violence, which they could not explain. “Why must this happen, in this country which has become a cruel place even without this?” A year or so earlier, dozens of young journalists had been there, crying; they were moved and dismayed because a man they had regarded as their idol, who lived abroad, had been bloodied by political violence in the absence of intellectual life in our wretched country. It is very easy, extremely easy, to judge some “little ones” without experience, who struggle every day from morning until late at night to tell Albanians what is happening in their country. I remember the events, the tiny beads of sweat mingling with tears, when they let people like Edi become ministers. But this does not interest Rama; he has now proclaimed the slogan: Either do as I say, or you do not deserve the profession you have. A road... Has it turned into a cruel place without this? A year and something ago, dozens of young journalists were in tears, were hurt and dismayed because a man they had considered their idol, who lived abroad, had been assaulted by political violence upon arriving at his modest apartment on the outskirts of Tirana. “The Squares”—that was what his last home was called—had been washed in blood. Now that time seems far away. Because Rama himself seems to have forgotten the tears in the eyes of those “youngsters” who made him a minister, without even realizing it themselves. Now that he no longer has any opponents, our dear Edi has fallen into a crisis: he has no one left to insult, and has ventured into a field he does not know all that well—the press. “Should I shit all over it, or read it?” was the uncultured question posed by our Minister of Culture, published quite openly in the country’s best-known weekly. The tears in the eyes of those whom Edi thinks he might burn were shed a year and a bit ago. As long as he was not a minister, Edi was a golden boy, a darling, a man who was very open and friendly with the “special” people in the press. Now that he is a minister, Rama roars and thunders as though everyone in the world had attacked him. It is truly an undertaking worthy of admiration, the one Edi and the people who support him have taken on. The press understood this immediately and gave tall Rama space whenever he wanted it, even without changing a single comma in his complicated words, which flow from “the poor and cruel maze of being Albanian and from the personal upheavals of a man” whose tongue, ever since he became this country’s top cultural official, sticks to the roof of his mouth, dried out by what he and others like him call the fate of Albanians, which “happens in their country.” Sometimes little hidden lips get mixed up with someone else’s, when people like Edi, no longer a minister, happen to take root. But this does not interest Rama; he has now declared his slogan: Either you do as I say, or you do not deserve your profession. According to him, there is and can be no other way. If someone else had let this be understood, these lines would make no sense. But when it is said by a man who for years and years was almost a colleague of those he now insults with cynicism, then we should all put our hands on our heads. Is Rama wrong, or were those who raised him wrong? Edi used to call me “mua” in a sharp way, pitifully, with insults. Was I used to him…? Now Minister Rama is enjoying himself among the beauties of Saranda and Butrint. His mind is surely on the many tasks awaiting him, on the journalists who will bother him with their incompetence, on the debates he has opened without yet resolving a single issue, ever since he took charge of governing the country’s noblest part, and so on. Meanwhile, the press will continue to send him its ignorance. Edi will continue to stick his nose out by the sea, which is all he deserves for what he has done over all these months. All the youngsters asked about this fully agreed. You know he gives thought to the problems of intellectual life, and that is why they continue to support him in his cultural adventures. There was only one thing they did not agree on: Why should he insult us? One of them even showed more courage. “What if we in the press ignore him and stop listening to the minister altogether, since he was the first to take that step?” Fortunately, everyone took this question as a joke.

The National Labour Council reaches a compromise between the Government, employers and employees From September 5 there will be no more strikes or street demonstrations The National Labour Council reaches a compromise between the Government, employers and employees Government announces social pact with the Trade Unions From September 5 there will be no more strikes or street demonstrations TIRANA - The trade unions lower wages. There will be no strikes until the end of the year. This is the main point of the social pact agreed yesterday at the meeting of the National Labour Council, convened under the leadership of Angjeli. Government representatives have agreed to index wages to inflation, while representatives of employers and employees have announced that they will not hold strikes. The Government is expected to decide on its commitments on September 5. On page 4 Headquarters of the Independent Trade Unions

GAZETA e Tiranës Pharmacies leave veterans without medicine TIRANA - Veterans are left without medicine. Demand for medicines is many times higher than the sums the state makes available to pay for the medicines that the “old folks” take for treatment during the month. On page 5

GAZETA e Shkodrës Refugees have nowhere to lay their heads SHKODËR - Arrivals from Kosovo are pouring into Shkodër. In just the last five days, starting last Thursday, around 100 Kosovars have arrived from Montenegro and Tropoja. The municipal authorities confirm this as well. On page 6

GAZETA e Durrësit “We will clear the border with Serbia of mines” DURRËS - Albanian anti-mine personnel will remove Serbian mines on the border with Kosovo. The Anti-Mine Committee, headquartered in Durrës, is undertaking a nationwide action against the arming of the population and hidden weapons. On page 7

Petition by nine first-team players Tirana are training with young players—or, rather, with the pioneers. Nine players from the first-team lineup did not take part in yesterday’s session. “The coach is arrogant and has insulted us. As long as he is in charge of the team, we will not take part in it,” their petition says. It would all be normal if they were Tirana’s reserves, but unfortunately they are the key players. Nallbani, Tafaj, Zëri, Ruhi, Sina, Çoçlli, Markoci (who joined the team only in recent days and has stated that he is with the “rebels”), Shërmusi and Alimehmeti (who has generally been absent without giving a reason) did not show up for the usual training session of the blue-and-white team yesterday. Although the disagreements had remained behind closed doors until yesterday, they have finally erupted into the open. The camps are now divided. On one side is coach Ramadan Shehu, and on the other, the players. Wall against wall: “We are not ordinary people who can allow ourselves to be insulted. We have been playing football for a long time, and nobody can trample on our hard work,” they say. We tried to contact Shehu, but it was impossible. Perhaps he, too, has his arguments, but one thing is clear. With the squad of players currently available to Tirana, the team risks playing the championship with a squad of pioneers. This is so true that at yesterday’s training session we tried to identify some of the footballers, but it was impossible. Unfamiliar faces, and what is more, so young that it was hard to believe a youth team was training. No, this is not “the richest team in Albania.” It has never been more than an embarrassment in important competitions, and if that happens this season, we do not know who deserves the “honour.” Lina Risto

President Meidani during the oath-taking in Parliament