Anonymous phone calls frighten the police TIRANA - Moments of tension and anxiety at the seat of the Albanian executive. Late in the evening, the Prime Minister’s Office was threatened by unknown people. The anonymous callers chose the telephone as the safest means of hurling insults and threats without being identified. It all happened a few hours after the Democrats’ demonstration on “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Boulevard, a delicate moment for the police, which was already tense after an exhausting day expected to be marked by incidents. The news of the actual threat was confirmed by the highest-ranking officials of the Ministry of Public Order. On page 3

The PD’s maneuvers; ministers report to the Government. The coalition convenes urgently Nano: The process must be monitored by March The PD’s maneuvers; ministers report to the Government. The coalition convenes urgently The trial: Europe should investigate Nano: The process must be monitored by March TIRANA - Nano is calling for international monitoring of the court proceedings against 6 members of the PD. The Albanian Prime Minister, for his part, has called for dialogue with the opposition, extending a hand to Berisha in the interests of easing political tensions. Marathon meetings of the Government and the leaders of the coalition parties have been held, at the end of which the Albanian Prime Minister himself appeared before the press. According to Nano, the situation is under the Government’s control. At the cabinet meeting, Minister of Public Order Teta was present and highlighted Berisha’s anti-constitutional tendency, especially when, according to him, PD activists tried to provoke violent clashes with the police. Nano also emphasized this in his statements to the press, telling his ministers that “today the effectiveness of the rule-of-law state we have built over these months is being put to the test.” On page 3

ZEF BROZI As I emphasized in the article on the Draft Constitution published in 1996-1997, Albania has the ability to draft one of the best modern constitutions. Considering it a moral duty toward my country, during February-August 1997 I wrote several chapters of a draft constitution, which I sent to the Constitution Commission, established later. Naturally, these chapters could have helped the group of specialists and the relevant Commission. The first task of the Parliament elected in the June 1997 elections should have been to prepare and adopt a Constitution, which would lay the constitutional foundations of a democratic state while also providing new, more effective and less costly solutions that would guarantee the functioning of the rule of law and the protection of human rights and freedoms. Among other things, it was vital for Albania’s future to demolish the foundations of the neo-dictatorship, which reached its peak in the unprecedented bloodshed and devastation of the country in 1997. Continuity on those fundamental principles paves the way for success, not failure. I am convinced that drafting and adopting the Constitution, with Albanian specialists and more productive cooperation with foreign constitutional experts, could have been completed by October 1997. But Albanian politicians will always leave Albania behind at the most pivotal moments in its history. I sent the chapters to several members of the Constitution Commission that was established later. Naturally, these chapters could have assisted the team convinced that drafting and adopting the Constitution—with Albanian specialists and more productive cooperation with foreign constitutional experts—could its history. And the people and Albania bear the burden of the harm, while most politicians strut around at meetings at home and abroad and profit through corruption. No political force can justify the delay or shift the blame onto others. Time should not have been wasted begging those who had failed—or, more accurately, did not want a Constitution—to write one, so that they could have more leeway in their dictatorial rule, which was overthrown by the 1997 Revolution. If today’s leaders truly want Albania to have a Constitution approved by referendum, they must meet at least two conditions: 1. Govern honestly, without being corrupt. The people’s vote in the referendum could become a vote for the Government, and less a vote for the Draft Constitution. But this will not... Continued on page 12

Pride or shame for the PD? “He must not be forgiven for the mistakes he made” Pride or shame for the PD? Democrats split in two over Zhulali “He must not be forgiven for the mistakes he made” TIRANA - Zhulali: pride or shame for the PD? Former President Berisha’s surprise statement at the meeting of Tirana Democrats has quickly revived an old feud within the largest opposition party. Many of the party’s leading figures in opposition had branded the former Defense Minister a traitor for allowing the rebels to open the weapons depots in Vlora and attack the institutions. One of those people was former President Berisha himself, who, in Zhulali’s absence during the first days of March, forced the latter to leave Albania after several openly made threats in the press controlled by the former President at the time. Meanwhile, the imprisonment of Zhulali and two other former ministers in the Meksi cabinet, Çela and Shamata, seems to have revived the old affection between Berisha and Zhulali once again. On page 2

TIRANA - The chief administrator of the pyramid schemes, Farudin Arapi, confirmed yesterday at a press conference that Albanian officials had tracked down bank transfers made by the “usury bosses.” Meanwhile, “Deloitë...” monitored the first auction for the sale of the assets of five pyramid schemes. On page 9 Mulosmani and Lushaj leaving the Tirana Court

Brokaj TIRANA - “Let the law deal with Berisha.” Sabit Brokaj, one of the Socialist Party’s leading figures, came out yesterday in support of the recent arrests of three former ministers and three senior Democratic Party military officers. Brokaj said that the terminology used by Democratic Party leader Berisha in recent days is appropriate only for a defense minister or an army chief of staff if the country is threatened by foreign aggression, but certainly not for a normal politician. On page 2

Kopliku TIRANA - “Berisha no longer deserves to be heard.” Bashkim Kopliku, former deputy to Meksi and Interior Minister in the government that took office after March 22, ’92, says Berisha has seized control of the Democratic Party by police-state methods. “The most courageous and most democratic people should rise up to remove him from the party, out of a sense of responsibility for the fact that, when this party was in power, the country was destroyed,” said the former deputy prime minister. On page 2

TIRANA - Crime has once again begun to threaten Albania. A bar was blown up in a TNT explosion in Has yesterday morning and, as if that were not enough, in Gjirokastër a police checkpoint on the national highway was attacked from a distance with grenades at around 03:15, as Friday morning was breaking. Official sources at the Ministry of Public Order explained the latest deterioration in the situation in the country as a result of the onset of a new political crisis. “If we have to point the finger at someone responsible, since things are going backwards, that culprit will be found in politics,” said a public-order official at the Ministry. From south to north, a number of extraordinary incidents have once again brought to everyone’s mind the sad period of a year ago. On page 4

Prok...

Tirana GAZETA Prostitute: Take me home On page 5 Durrës GAZETA “Here are the railway’s dirty secrets” On page 7 Shkodër GAZETA Fear of unrest empties the city On page 6