FOOTBALL SPECIAL On pages 20-23

HISTORY / The former President registers for 2 years in Duce’s organizations Although attendance at the fascist youth house was to some extent compulsory, there were also high school students who did not attend—

Andi Bejtja The Democratic Party celebrated yesterday the 8th anniversary of its formation, trying to give this celebration the atmosphere of the 1990s. The upcoming celebrations [sentence fragment in source] and some of the figures of Albanian pluralism who are now in power and once broke away from Berisha’s clamor, forming new parties. On the surface, 1990 has something in common with December 1998. We have a student hunger strike, a DP rally and its leaders likewise on strike. Also, some of today’s people in power were more or less in this position in 1990, but on the opposite side of the protests, regarded as the devil of Albania. And that is all. Meanwhile, Berisha remains what he is, talking about the possibility of communism and the secret police coming to power. But while, for Berisha and his allies, the clock hands seem to have stopped in 1990, for some Albanians and international institutions, both on our old continent and across the ocean, time has moved on. They saw the 1996 elections and especially May 28 of this year, when opposition leaders were beaten and dragged across “Skënderbej” Square; they saw 1997, when, as a result of these grotesquely manipulated elections and the allowance of pyramid schemes, Albanians rebelled, causing the state to melt away like an ice cream in a child’s hand. They saw the oil smuggling and other things like it. Unfortunately, this policy pursued by the DP without any convincing reason caused the SP, a party regarded as the heir to the PPSH, to emerge as a renovated party. The DP itself handed the SP the banner of human rights. And not only that. They have also closely followed the boycotting actions of the DP and its leader, Berisha, after the elections of 29 June 1997. 1998 is not 1990, although Berisha is still the same as he was.

not attend it at all and never took part in the various activities it organized. After this had happened several times, Ramiz Alia, who, being cunning, did not come forward himself, egged on his close friend Ibrahim Uruçi, who one day said to the head of the G.L.A.H.I.N. House: “Comandante Romane lui non viene mai”. The fascist commander, extremely annoyed by the game that had been played on him for some time, shouted loudly: “Chi ha detto presente?” “I got myself free; nobody released me. Ten-year-old Aldo Shehu, nephew of one of Vlora’s most powerful merchants, who was taken hostage on Friday at around 17:00, recounts the difficult adventure he went through in the company of the masked men. Wearing a suit and a bow tie, the 10-year-old, found yesterday at around 12:30, is believed to have been kept hidden in the deepest part of the forest above the castle. So far, the law enforcement forces have not yet made any identification of the perpetrators of the kidnapping.”

THE SHIK CHIEF’S ISSUE MEIDANI CAN DEFEAT MAJKO FATOS KLOSI KEEPS HIS POST On page 3