Page 3 Fino in Parliament: Here is my plan. The US, Germany and the OSCE warn Berisha. March 9 in question

— BY FROK ÇUPI — The Albanian people do not want Sali Berisha on the throne of state. The people rose up against Sali Berisha with weapons, in a general uprising. Does this truth, which turned Albania into ruins, still need further explanation!? Sali Berisha acts as if nothing has happened. Yesterday, in defiance of the entire political will of Albania and the world, and contrary to the will of the Albanians, he hastily called elections under the terms of his personal law. Only the logic of a barbarian could take this path. What is this man trying to do next?! Is he trying to steal the people’s votes again!? This would no longer be a May 26, but an event that would be even more ... [unclear in source]. We have the evidence before our eyes to tell the world that we are a people capable of living in a state, like all contemporary peoples. All for the sake of one Berisha! But even if Berisha were to gather the votes by hand, box by box, the people still do not want him and will not want him. They will want the head of state even less, and hate him all the more. What more does Berisha want?! Is he trying to summon a dark night for the lives of Albanians?! Europe and America are saying clearly that with Berisha and without fair elections, Albania will receive no assistance. Meanwhile, Albania is also nearing economic collapse. Hunger, together with the weapons Berisha has distributed, will make the number of Albanian victims so great that the culprit, Berisha, will disappear among them. This is the terror he is planning today, in order to take revenge to the very core on the people for rising up against him. Berisha wants to provoke another popular uprising. For example, while the people of Vlora have sworn by every stone and tree that Berisha will never set foot on that land again, he declares from Tirana that the people of Vlora love him and that he will visit them. Meanwhile, he organizes their murder and terror. At this very time, he is throwing down the gauntlet to all Albanian insurgents, as a challenge. Nothing more and nothing less: this is a brutal provocation. Will Berisha be consumed in another uprising?! Apparently, that does not concern him; what concerns him is that the flames against him should burn Albania too. But he has already done the unthinkable—will he do even worse?! What will the others do?! The political parties that gave Berisha “shelter” on March 9, while the wave of popular uprising was frightening him, have a responsibility to reach an understanding with their client Berisha and answer to the people. They must not ... and answer to the people. They must not ... in the elections either! Since Berisha knows this, and does not want to know it... Will they denounce March 9 and return to the point when Berisha was crying and begging for mercy? That, too, has a price. Will they find the strength to call the people to democratic actions and demand the immediate resignation of the President who rebelled against the Agreement and the weapons?!... And what will the international forces do?! Remain indifferent?! Fine, that is what Berisha wants. Withdraw from Albania? Even better for Berisha. Bring in military forces from abroad to intervene in a sovereign state? Even better for Berisha. Bring them for Berisha. If they bring them from Albania? Even better for Berisha. And if they bring ... [the end of the column is unclear and cut off]

Sali Berisha touches the anti-communists of Kavaja with his hand Photo Reuters

Nano on the phone with Vranicki The problem is Sali Berisha Fatos Nano has spoken by telephone with Franc Vranicki. The socialist leader insisted that he come to Tirana, but said that the PD is sabotaging the return to democracy. “Without dialogue and sincerity, the talks go nowhere” was Nano’s message. Read page 2

Berisha’s announcement of the election date in Kavajë found Nano’s socialists at the southernmost end of the country, in Sarandë. Rexhep Mejdan[i], General Secretary of the PS, and his PS colleagues chose the coastal city as the place where their election offensive would begin. Yesterday in Sarandë, PS members and supporters took part in an expanded meeting with socialist leaders from Tirana, where the party’s objectives for the June 29 elections were discussed. “Socialists must develop the concept of attack, not defense,” General Secretary Mejdan[i] said at the outset of the meeting. Mejdan[i] then said that his party had demonstrated its responsibility so far for all political developments in the country. “There were two alternatives: prime minister or interior minister in the Government of National Reconciliation,” said Mejdan[i], who asked his party’s members and supporters to move from the concept of defense to the concept of attack. “The public rescue committees have played only an important civic role and have managed the difficult situation in several southern cities,” Rexhep Mejdani said, explaining the PS’s position on these committees, which had been discussed for months in party circles and in the press. A similar meeting is thought to have been held by the PS’s opponents in Gjirokastër as well, but so far in this southern district it has not been possible to organize the votes ... [text cut off]

Sali Berisha touches the anti-communists of Kavaja with his hand. Photo Reuters

Fino in Parliament: Here is my plan. The US, Germany and the OSCE warn Berisha. March 9 in question