Ministry: Personal revenge. Hajdari: Nano’s doing Page 2

BY EDI RAMA In the hot spring of last year, the New York Times urgently asked me for an article. I wrote it through to dawn and, as agreed with the editor in charge, faxed it late the following morning. A few hours later, when I returned, I found three messages from the newspaper’s editorial office on my answering machine. They wanted to edit it and had not been able to reach me. I have no reason to hide that I was quite surprised when, during our subsequent phone conversation, the editor told me that despite the urgency they had postponed publication by a day because they could not do such a thing without getting my approval of the final text. My surprise grew even greater when I realized that the edits requiring the author’s consent not only left the substance of the article untouched, but were mainly concerned with improving the English. Without dwelling on the moral of this story, let me get straight to the point. Since I have gone from being a subject to an object of the press, I have, unfortunately, been given the chance to see its work from another angle and to experience, within the “narrow” framework of my own work, what in fact happens on a much wider scale: Unrestrained Abuse of Freedom of Speech. It would never occur to me, not for a moment, God forbid, to question my conviction that the best law for the Albanian press is that passage of the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini which says, “The messenger is not at fault”; but having said that, I only want to express another conviction of mine. Namely, that no one other than a journalist’s professional conscience can ensure the normal application of this law, so that his guaranteed innocence does not become, as so often happens, a guarantee for practising this noble profession by peddling nonsense. Perhaps my desire to speak and write my language as well as possible has made me “more sensitive than I should be” to the linguistic barbarity of the Albanian press; perhaps my generally “un-Albanian” inclination not to do things carelessly prevents me from calmly viewing the “objective ignorance” of the overwhelming majority of our journalists; perhaps some friends of mine in the press are right when they say to me, half-jokingly, “Don’t provoke them, they’ll smear you.” But, as it seems, “I haven’t become a minister yet,” and so I don’t think it’s wise that “for them you don’t think and it’s wise that for them I don’t think and it’s wise that for them you don’t think and it’s wise that for them you don’t think and it’s wise that for them you don’t think and it’s wise that for them you don’t think.” (Continued on page 3)

Page 5 Albanian soldiers observing the Serbian border area Photo REUTERS

Serbian spies have infiltrated alongside the refugees Fear of UDB agents Police tighten security measures. Terrorists with criminal intentions may have entered Albania Kosovar refugees have arrived on Albanian territory with Serbian fear following close behind. Although they have found a solution by taking shelter in the villages of Tropojë or elsewhere, the shadow of Serbian violence seems to follow them at every step. The Ministry of Public Order, based on operational information, fears a Serbian operation inside our territory. P. 6

Neritan Ceka, following the accusations by the Chief Prosecutor of the South P. 3

The Vlorë candidate, Tusha: They offered to make me consul P. 3

Dramatic situation at the border, more people fleeing the war P. 4

Alimuça’s branches abroad under scrutiny P. 9

The Association of Albanian Businessmen is providing aid to our Kosovar brothers “Alongside the Nano government, substantial aid worth several tens of millions of lekë is also being provided by the most Albanian association, the Association of Albanian Businessmen. All this is for our Kosovar brothers, who have crossed the border and are in Tropojë, Kukës, etc. This association, which is very powerful, has planned to send food, clothing, etc. to the Kosovar families tomorrow. Its chairman, Mr Koço Dado, said this last night to ‘KJ’.