The Interior Minister is accused of masterminding the attack in Milot TIRANA STILL DOESN’T KNOW WHAT TO SEEK FOR KOSOVO TIRANA - While nearly 90 people have been killed in Kosovo and others are ready to sacrifice themselves to achieve the aspiration of the people of Kosovo—independence—official Tirana cites as its achievement having raised awareness of the Kosovo issue at every international level. Our diplomats leave Tirana and ask our government officials what their position on Kosovo is. In these heated days, it seems as though everyone has a formula ready. Serbia’s is to consolidate Kosovo as an internal matter. The international community proposes special autonomy, but within the framework of the former Yugoslavia, while the Kosovars themselves demand independence and a republic, the one they proclaimed once before, in May ’92. Only the Albanian government is much more hesitant to say plainly what it really seeks. Meanwhile, we are the only ones who have recognized the Republic of Kosovo by parliamentary decision, and we have a representative office for it in Tirana. We go further than the international community, which does not go beyond autonomy. Rugova is applauded because he did not sit down at the negotiating table with the Serbian delegation, yet we have not seen a response to the fact that Rugova wants independence as a prerequisite for entering negotiations. Everyone knows how to chant slogans at rallies—“One nation, one position”—but when thousands of Kosovars on the other side of the border are ready to fight if diplomacy fails, Tirana hesitates to answer whether it would intervene militarily to support Kosovo, while saying it is ready to receive Albanian refugees on Albanian soil. We agree with the right of the people of Kosovo to self-determination, which would mean that we are in accord with the Contact Group, too, which calls for autonomy. It is not known whether we recognize the KLA or consider it a terrorist organization. All this diplomatic solidarity helps no one but Kosovo. But what, exactly, does our government seek for Kosovo? If the government is simply too poor and powerless to do anything, it would be much more honest to say so today. The international community may be forgiven for not knowing or forgetting our history, but the Albanian government cannot be forgiven. Azem Hajdari takes Ceka to court TIRANA - Azem Hajdari is suing Neritan Ceka. A criminal complaint bearing Hajdari’s signature has been submitted to the General Prosecutor’s Office. Ceka is accused of attempting to assassinate the DP deputy through unprecedented schemes. Hajdari also accuses the Interior Minister and the Prosecutor’s Office of flagrantly violating a decision by the Court of Cassation by keeping Hajdari’s drivers, described as the Milot gang, imprisoned. The polemics between the Interior Minister and the leader of the Right are flaring up again over the Milot incident. After Ceka’s accusations against the Court of Cassation, Hajdari was the one who immediately went on the counterattack. Although the prosecutor’s office has indicted him, the Democratic deputy serving his second term, Hajdari, announced yesterday that he had submitted a criminal complaint concerning Interior Minister Neritan Ceka. On page 3

Ceka Hajdari

Brawl in Durrës, players clash Partizani suffocate Vllaznia The blue-and-whites are close too The Reds dedicate their victory to Musta; Vllaznia narrowly escape in Ballsh; Tirana thrash Skënderbeu TIRANA - A quiet week in the football championship. Apparently, the brawls, stones and bricks of the past two weeks have subsided somewhat. Perhaps even those who have judged them have understood that this is no longer the time for that, if we want to enjoy the only sport played in Albania, if we want to enjoy the only sporting entertainment in our country. As far as we have been able to find out, there have been no incidents, but let us hope we hear the same in the coming weeks. In sporting terms, Albetrol score their first goal away from home, though it does little for them in the standings. On pages 10–11 From the Tirana–Skënderbeu match, 3–0

THE CONSTITUTION On page 2

NAMES REVEALED

A car speeds into a café FUSHË KRUJË - They kill three members of a family with their vehicle, injure four others, and leave without helping the wounded. The horrifying incident occurred beside a small kiosk at the exit of the town of Fushë-Krujë, when, at exactly 5:00 p.m., a killer car, a Fiat “Lancia,” destroyed the Kasapi family’s property and killed three people on the spot, including a four-year-old child. The victims were Zenel Kasapi, 50, Artan Kasapi, 27, and the young child M. Kasapi. Zan Kasapi, who also owned the shop, was seriously injured, along with his daughter and two others who were standing there chatting in front of the shop at that hour. The attackers, travelling at monstrous speed in a Fiat “Lancia” (two people were seated in the front of the car), lost control and crashed with the car’s full force and weight, almost airborne, into the kiosk and the people standing there talking to one another. On page 9

Gj ata? Rustem Gjata falls from power. Parliament dismisses the head of the Constitutional Court. Even the Democrats abandon him. On page 2

. On page 4

KOSOVO . On page 2

REPORTAGE TIRANA - At 7:45 in the morning on February 18, at last, the wheels of the Brazilian airline Varig’s plane touched down on the airport runway, built on the shores of the magnificent Bay of Guanabara, after a 12-hour flight from Frankfurt. A very long journey, with plenty of time to eat, sleep, chat, argue and even make peace (the hardest thing for us Albanians) with one of the 700 neighbors—fellow travelers from all over the world. I left Tirana in winter and arrived in Rio de Janeiro in summer. Already in Frankfurt, the suit gave way to the short-sleeved shirt, only to be put back on 10 days later, again in Frankfurt. So it was that, together with two compatriots of mine, I set out on a dream journey—and why not an adventure too—in the land of wonders. On page 12 From the carnival in Rio de Janeiro

TODAY’S TV SUPPLEMENT GAZETA TV SUNDAY 15 MARCH TO SATURDAY 21 MARCH 1998 Xhek...

. On pages 5–8