The U.S. State Department once again warns American citizens in Tirana President Clinton: More than 200 marines are guarding the Embassy Page 2

BY ENTON ABILEKAJ Everything that is supposed to happen is being accelerated. There is no other solution but war, yet nothing is ready except NATO. Neither SHIK, which is still at the stage of finding accomplices in the North, nor the army, which has very few people ready to fight, nor Parliament, which is reluctant to end its holidays once and for all, nor the security forces, which continue to pursue everyday corruption while calmly following all the grave events that are frightening Albanians and shaking Albania. After the Fierza Hydroelectric Power Plant and the repeated warnings, no one could have thought that another attack against Albania would be carried out just a few kilometers farther away. And two fingers are pointing at once, because no one anticipated it in order to find out what was happening. Like everyone else, SHIK and the security forces suspect the Serbs and Islamic fundamentalists, but they know nothing more than that. Clinton himself undermined the confidence of these Albanian institutions yesterday, when he said that the American NATO marines had come to Albania more to guard the embassy and its reduced staff than for the maneuvers. The Serbs undermined the confidence of all the institutions responsible for defense by mocking Albanian lives right near the border. Taking advantage of the sluggishness of the Albanian secret services, Serbian propaganda managed to portray Albania as a base for Islamic terrorism. After all this, Albania is under attack from all sides and is unable to respond. It is even failing to prevent itself from being used as a battleground by Islamic fundamentalists against the United States. No government official in this defenseless country responded to the Serbs’ call for war, made on the very first day of NATO’s maneuvers, even though 14 armed countries were conducting military maneuvers near the border. Not only that, but hope for a strong response that would at least give the impression that there is a state within the borders remains distant. The desire to decide on a response became too faint to overcome Parliament’s bureaucracy. The leadership of Albania’s highest institutions issued no alert about the successive events, and this role seems to have been left solely to the Albanian press. It is a non-governmental opinion that regards these acts as a way of demonstrating their military strength and showing that they are not the terrorists of the Balkans, by means of which they might ... be ...

A train driver dies, four in very serious condition P. 9

The figure accusing the pyramid company is revealed P. 10 Berisha created concessions for Islamic citizens Albanian border open to Arabs P. 2 Minister before journalists: the police failures Teta: Economic crime is increasing P. 11

War with the Serbs; state of emergency expected NATO forces paratroopers standing beside a bunker during maneuvers in Bizë Major attack in northern Albania The church is blown up Shkodra is shaken. Explosives used against Orthodox Christians; religious division is the aim A powerful explosion has blown up the Orthodox Church in the center of the city of Shkodra. The perpetrators of this act are not yet known, but according to the police, a van without license plates stopped in front of the church at 2 a.m. People of the night got out of it and planted the explosive at the holy site of Shkodra’s Orthodox Christians. NATO forces paratroopers standing beside a bunker during maneuvers in Bizë. REUTERS

The convicted Skender Gjinushi, speaker of the Albanian parliament and also chairman of the PSD, decided yesterday to boycott the newspaper “Koha Jonë.” The reason, according to him, is that the newspaper published an article yesterday about the villa he is building without a permit and free of charge, which the pyramid scheme company “2K” has undertaken to build. An angry Gjinushi told our journalist yesterday that “he will not speak to your newspaper until the day he dies,” something even former parliamentary speaker Pjetër Arbnori did not do during the PD’s reign of terror against “KJ.” Naturally, we regret this statement of his, but it is not our fault that he has broken the law and is cooperating with a company declared to be a pyramid scheme, such as “2K.” Regardless of the fact that it still has powerful supporters among political-financial lobbies, extending from the Presidency all the way to the wall of Gjinushi’s new villa. Nevertheless, the newspaper is open to any construction of thought by parliamentary speaker Gjinushi.

Ramisha created the convenience