TIRANA - “Ramiz Alia put our mother in prison.” Sokol Hoxha, one of Enver Hoxha’s sons, has agreed to speak publicly about his relations with the Communists, Ramiz Alia, Berisha and the Socialists currently in power. According to Sokol Hoxha, they were the ones who put handcuffs on his mother, Nexhmije Hoxha. “Alia is a traitor,” Sokol Hoxha says in his first public statement. With no one to protect them, members of the Hoxha family appear to have been singled out. Hysni Milloshi has made strong accusations of betraying their father. Sokol Hoxha insists that he has no connection with today’s people in power, whom he considers successors to Ramiz Alia. Meanwhile, Enver’s son also speaks about Berisha, whom he accuses of desecrating his father’s remains. On page 4 Continued on page 3

Here are those responsible for March TIRANA - Safet Zhulali agrees to revisit once again the dark days of the unrest. Having remained untouched by Justice to this day, he has decided, with his characteristic calm, to speak to the Investigative Commission chaired by his moderate lawyer, Ngjela. He has decided to act as Berisha said: to boycott the “McCarthy” Commission. Former Defence Minister Safet Zhulali has agreed to speak to the prosecution authorities. But not according to the logic put forward so far from his official position. According to Zhulali, a trial is warranted concerning the army, on the grounds of why it failed to defend the state, not because it tried to defend it. The man most vilified during the March unrest now lives a normal life in the Albanian capital, convinced of the legality of his decision to deploy the army while it was in full service.

KOSOVO / Meeting in Rome today TIRANA - Russian Foreign Minister Jevgjeni Primakov has made serious accusations against Albania. In a statement issued in the final hours before the meeting of the Contact Group in Rome, the head of Russian diplomacy, referring to some information he had received, said that “there are camps in Albania where terrorists are trained and, as a result, he believes that the borders should be closed to prevent terrorist movements from Albania and Macedonia. On page 12 Continued on page 12

Majko: We will change the deputy ministers too Socialists of the North: Nano left us out President Meidani: I want the new Constitution by 28 November TIRANA - Deputy ministers will be changed, while permanent secretaries will be given greater authority in their technical roles. Pandeli Majko and Gramoz Ruçi have offered some explanations about how the government will be restructured, in line with Prime Minister Nano’s new ideas. The PS Coordinating Secretary explained that, as part of the political administration, there will be changes at deputy-minister level, but this will be within the authority of Nano and the heads of the respective departments. Meanwhile, General Secretary Pandeli Majko explained that the proposal includes replacing some parliamentarians and advisers, with a view to voting on the prime minister’s list of names and securing a block vote from the MPs. One MP has said that he will vote against some changes to the cabinet, prompting a response from the PS’s number two. If anyone votes against the changes proposed by the prime minister, Majko told “Gazeta Shqiptare” that, as group chairman, he would request a confidence vote within the parliamentary group. TIRANA - The Socialists are criticizing Nano. The exclusion of people from the North from the cabinet, as well as the procedures for making the changes, were part of the debate held during a [unclear] meeting of the parliamentary group, where several MPs did not hold back in criticizing the head of government. Meanwhile, PS General Secretary Pandeli Majko has tried to contain the anger of vote within the parliamentary group.

BREAKING NEWS / SURPRISE PROSECUTOR’S DECISION TIRANA - Vehbi Alimucaj has been arrested. Yesterday, at around 10 p.m., police took the VEFA boss to the cells of Prison 313. Following an order issued by the Prosecutor’s Office, handcuffs were also placed on four of his close associates: Dilaver Leskaj, Kujtim Dervishi, Vangjelina Merkaj. A pregnant woman was also detained; she is now in hospital, but no source [unclear] and two other people are also being sought, as they were not found during the searches conducted by the security forces. The court’s decision to detain Alimucaj was made in the afternoon and later, at around 10 p.m., the operation to detain him and the other people described as associates of the VEFA boss began. The prosecutor in the case, Ibrahim Lahi, told journalists yesterday that he would close the case against Alimucaj, but [unclear] it would happen this quickly. The charge against them is fraud involving large sums to the detriment of others. Meanwhile, the seven accused appear to have been linked to the opening of seven bank accounts containing a total of 140 million dollars, but so far this money has not been found.

Sokrat Plaka The deeper the Serbian aggression against Kosovo becomes, the more clearly its aims are revealed. The massacres in Drenica can be seen as a response to the peaceful student demonstrations of 1 October 1997; subsequently, the military attack was understood to be directed against every Albanian national and democratic movement throughout the province. Consequently, the method employed was merciless genocide, and this poisoned dish is served up to those countries whenever it suits their national or balance-of-power policy needs. Meanwhile, these powers certainly cannot swallow such a dish, because one day it will conflict with their strategic interests and the democratic processes in Europe. It is not difficult to understand that this is the familiar tactic of eliminating “dangerous” democratic opponents taken as a response to the peaceful student demonstrations of October 1, 1997, and thereafter, the military attack was limited in that it was province; consequently, the method of action was merciless genocide and brutality. In reality, the aim is to prevent the expansion in Kosovo of the self-determination movement and peaceful demonstrations, precisely during a “bad” period for Serbia, when democratic winds have already begun blowing here too—winds that have swept across Eastern Europe and are having a strong impact in Yugoslavia, with events in Belgrade, Montenegro and Kosovo. Thus, this is also a confrontation with democratic processes. The Serbian army and police’s assault on the protests in Gjakova and Deçan, on the Albanian-Yugoslav border on April 22–23, under the pretext of “cleansing out Albanian terrorists” in Kosovo, killing nearly 30 people—often 3 to 4 members of one family—and dragging Albania into the matter as well, are familiar maneuvers, among others, by Serbia to confuse international public opinion, especially the Contact Group, about the reality of the situation in Kosovo. [sigur?] cannot swallow such stories, because one day they will run counter to their strategic interests and to that this is the familiar tactic of eliminating Serbia’s “dangerous” democratic opponents, according to the principle of getting rid of them “one by one.” Now that, at the same time, the national problems with Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia have been resolved, Montenegro and especially Kosovo remain on the agenda. The events of the period when the Ottoman Empire was disintegrating in the Balkans are being repeated in their character, with aggressive Serbia at their center. As at that time, the independence of Kosovo has been put at risk by Greater Serbian policy, and the integrity of democratic Albania is being targeted. Claims about so-called Albanian terrorists in Kosovo, who can be nothing other than an expression of the instinct for physical self-defence in the face of Milosheviç’s inhuman attacks, and about Albania supposedly helping them, serve the aim of opening the way for Greater Serbia’s political agenda. Which will...

Controversy Vladimir Beja The democratic processes that took place in our country were, in a certain sense, a real challenge for the army and, more broadly, for the Albanian armed forces. In the conditions of this general “euphoria” and legitimate enthusiasm, extreme attitudes toward the army could not be ruled out. Burdened with many political associations (the army as a bastion of dictatorship, Enver’s officers) and, moreover, economic ones (the bunker adventure, military spending leaving the people without bread), etc., they created, at the outset, an extremely difficult psychological situation in relations between Albanian civil society and the military. Unlike other Eastern countries, where military society in general—and its elite in particular—enjoyed numerous privileges, the Albanian army not only did not have these, but was subjected to numerous experiments at its own expense. The outcome turned it into an army that was “neglected” from its very beginnings, in a piecemeal manner, “dismantled” in its organization, in a piecemeal manner, without identity and, most importantly, without a military elite, depriving it of every real opportunity to exert influence on the country’s political life, let alone to hope that it could dictate it. For this reason, and also because it was expected that the change of system would necessarily put military society in its rightful place, the Albanian army not only did not intervene in the turbulence of the political events in the struggle for democracy, but opened the way for political forces to achieve their strategic objective: the overthrow of the dictatorship. With this “neutrality,” the army strengthened its position in civil society, but also managed to preserve its existence, emerging almost unscathed from the battering wave of protesting crowds. To their calls of “The army is with us,” it responded admirably with discipline, calm, and rigor.

TIRANE - In the first three months of ’98, Albanians smoked only 11 tons of “legal” cigarettes. In three months, Albanians smoked around 1,500 tons of cigarettes. These are the two figures set against each other. The difference is smuggling. Specialists have calculated that annual cigarette consumption in Albania is 5,000–6,000 tons per year. By a simple calculation, around 1,000–1,500 tons of cigarettes were consumed in Albania during the first three months. On page 9

SHKODER - 150 tons of waste are removed from the city every day, yet the rubbish continues to be a concern for the people of Shkoder. In the road potholes, where it blends in with the asphalt, and at the corners of apartment buildings, rubbish has taken hold. The street-cleaning crews cannot get rid of it completely, because new waste is dumped on top of the old, creating new piles of rubbish. On page 6

VLORE - “A series of projects and investments will soon begin to be implemented in Vlore; all that is needed is security for foreign investors” — this was the conclusion of a lengthy meeting held between the city’s leaders and the large delegation representing 26 delegations from various countries, members of the OSCE, two ministers, Meksi and Malaj, and the Speaker of Parliament, Shkëndër Gjinushi. On page 7

DURRES - World Bank projects in the villages of Durres are being obstructed. The drainage and irrigation canals will not be able to be built for at least several years, because residents of some villages have stopped the work. The companies that had undertaken to carry out the projects have left, citing unsafe working conditions. On page 8

VLORE / Investigation concludes “Sibilla guilty in relation to Kateri” On page 7 Kateri i Radës