The President of the Republic of Albania, Sali Berisha, met on Saturday with the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova. Both Presidents described Mr. Rugova’s meeting with President Clinton, as well as the talks Mr. Rugova held at the State Department, as very fruitful and beneficial. They noted that these are a clear expression of the Clinton administration of the United States of America’s appropriate concern for resolving the Kosovo problem. The difficult situation of Albanians in Kosovo and the situation in the region were discussed at the Berisha–Rugova meeting. Both presidents expressed their full support for NATO’s latest decision and for the view that recognition of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia by the United States contributes to stability in the southern Balkans. ATSH

PS threatens: The vice-chairman of the PS, Luan Hajdaraga, says this openly, with a clear conscience and the inherited Enverian foresight, on Friday, 11 February, in the so-called “independent” newspaper “Koha jonë”, which has turned almost into a supplement of “ZP”. It has been heavily advertised on the front page, where it is announced, and on the second page, where this “historic” document is published. This is due both to the high position L. Hajdaraga holds in the PS leadership pyramid and to the weight of the message he conveys to the country and the world. Let us quote his final sentence in full: “If Fatos Nano is not released, then I foresee complications about which I do not wish to comment today.” To us, his release would at the same time mean his acquittal. Of course, Mr. Hajdaraga did not simply make this statement off the top of his head. He concocted it himself, and it was served up by his own kitchen. After all, he has acted this way before. If we were to analyze his sentence in detail, we would see that to get Fatos Nano released, he needed not only his words, but also his name. He makes threats and predicts disaster, yet is not held accountable. For its party interests and proletarian internationalism, it sold, stole, used Albania as a testing ground for experiments and adventures, and turned it into hell. Fifty years were not enough to do everything it had planned, and so it wants power again to accomplish what it still regrets and has left unfinished. But Comrade Luan and his comrades neither want nor can conceive of power without Nano as Prime Minister. Thus, to satisfy this whim of the socialist comrades, justice must forgive Nano the petty sin of the 9 million dollars lost—or… disappeared into the many pockets of Communist-socialists. What are 9 million compared with Enver’s billions? A grain of sand. Yes, someone will say, when he was Prime Minister… (the article continues below) So justice has no choice but to obey the will, or the ultimatum, of Luan Hajdaraga and all the other lions of the PS, in order to prevent the complications he said he would not wish to comment on in “KI” on 11 February. But what could these complications be? Perhaps one of the architects of 2 April 1991, Gramoz Ruçi, will stage and carry out an even bloodier 2 April? Perhaps Professor Kastriot Islami will put into practice his theoretical method of cracking skulls? Perhaps… The entire senior leadership of the PS is surely well informed about these “complications” that could be inflicted on the people and the country. They must also have consulted their old and new allies at home and abroad. That everything has been carefully planned is confirmed by the main editorial—the “chief architecture” of the “ZP” editorial—on Sunday, which issues an ultimatum: Nano must be released for Albania to be admitted to the Council of Europe. Faced with the great danger of complications, which the socialist comrades know about and warn the people of, the people have no alternative but to pray with all their might: Please, forgive him for what he has done and release that devil Fatos Nano before he sets the whole country on fire. Today’s socialists are the sons of those old Enverians who never accepted the word of two parties and never separated words from… “deeds”. XHEVAT MUSTAFA ...and in the final pilot episode he says: which I do not wish to comment on today.” For us, his release is at the same time also his acquittal. Of course, Mr. Hajdaraga did not simply come up with this statement himself; he consulted his other comrades in the leadership. It is also inspired by the ideological platform of the PS’s Second National Conference. Therefore, everything the PS’s Lion writes must be taken seriously and considered realistic for today and for the future. After being distressed for six months by loneliness, by his physical separation from his comrade in ideals and mischief, F. Nano, the Lion became... a lion and roared: “Release F. Nano, or I (that is, the PS) will make everyone pay. We’ll do everything and accept no responsibility for anything!” And we must not forget that the Lion’s party is accustomed to ...burning things, and seems to speak in defiance of the little when little Fatos was prime minister, he could do great harm by putting you in prison even for a 200.1 lek deficit. That cannot be denied, but it should also not be forgotten that ordinary citizens and Envers and Fatoses alike were subject to the law. According to this theory and practice, which the Lion has adopted and made second nature, Fatos Nano is untouchable and cannot be convicted by law and, consequently, should be declared innocent and released immediately; the 9 million loaded onto his back should join Enver’s billions or the 500 million dollars in debts, and should never again be brought up with comrade Fatos or the PS, because they get upset and offended.

—Statement by the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Albania— A statement by the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Albania concerning the latest decision of the Serbian authorities addressed to the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, ordering it to hand over its building and other property, says, among other things: A Albania concerning the latest decision of the Serbian authorities addressed to the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo, ordering it to hand over its building and other property, says, among other things: We learned with profound indignation of the latest repressive, anti-civilized act by the Serbian leadership against the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. It is perfectly clear to us, the employees of the Academy of Sciences system of the Republic of Albania, that these efforts are an integral part of the measures undertaken by the Serbian authorities against the Albanian people, the Albanian language and education, and their efforts to affirm and develop Albanian culture and science. This act comes immediately after the arbitrary decisions, based on unlawful provisions, of the Assembly of Serbia to abolish the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. The Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo was established in April 1978 by a special law of the Kosovo Assembly. It came into being as the culmination of the efforts, struggle and resistance of the Albanian people, as an institution with major responsibilities for bringing to light the historical, cultural and scientific values of the Albanians as a nation and as a distinct entity in the Balkans with its historical, political and territorial rights. Throughout its activity, this important institution of national culture has been guided by scientific and objective truth, freedom of thought and scientific research, and has played an important role in strengthening national awareness and defending the scientific truth about these lands. The voice of the scholars of this Academy has been heard with respect at international gatherings and conferences and, in every instance, has been the voice of science, understanding and tolerance—the voice of reason. The act undertaken by the Serbian authorities against the highest institution of culture and science in Kosovo is unprecedented. It adds to the actions, both horrifying and tragic, undertaken by the Serbian authorities in various regions of the former Yugoslavia. We, the scientific of Albania, call on world public opinion, international organizations and scientific circles to join their voices in protest against this new act and to put an end, as soon as possible, to the military and police oppression that has continued for many years, and to the provocations that are leading to the further destruction and deterioration of the situation; and to work for a resolution of Kosovo’s international status in accordance with international instruments, international law and the will of its people. ATSH

—Arben Xhaferi was elected the new chairman— On the morning of 13 February, in Tetovë, the extraordinary congress of the Party for Democratic Prosperity of the Albanians in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia concluded. According to sources in Tetovë, at the start of the congress proceedings, a number of Albanian members of parliament in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, several ministers and several congress delegates left the hall after making several procedural objections. Meanwhile, more than 80 percent of the delegates continued the congress proceedings. The congress also elected the new bodies of the Party for Democratic Prosperity: the Party’s Central Assembly and its presidency. Arben Xhaferi, a well-known publicist and former editor at Radio Television Prishtina, born in Tetovë, was elected chairman of the PPD. Mendu Thaqi, Shazi Mehmeti and Nexhibe Palloshi were elected deputy chairmen, while Sefedin Duka was elected secretary-general. In his congratulatory address to the congress, the secretary-general of the Albanian Democratic Party, Tritan Shehu, emphasized… Closing the extraordinary congress of the PPD, party chairman Arben Xhaferi said that although the new party leadership had taken on a major responsibility in an extremely difficult situation, and although it was very difficult to achieve success at this time because a number of processes had already concluded, they had nevertheless accepted this responsibility, he stressed, determined to serve the party and the people who had created it. “I regret,” Mr. Xhaferi noted, “that a small number of delegates abandoned the congress and…” could befall with their old and new allies, at home and abroad. After a fruitful debate among dozens of congress delegates, the draft statute, the rules of procedure, and the congress declaration were finally approved. were finally approved.

On the pages of “ZP”, very often also in the pages of its sister publications, at various PS activities such as active conferences, gatherings and so on, the “Nano Question” is always presented as a leitmotif; it would seem unjustifiable if this name were absent even for a single day in one of the city’s neighborhoods. On the pages of “ZP”, very often also in the pages of its sister publications, at various PS activities such as active conferences, gatherings and so on, the “Nano Question” is always presented as a leitmotif; it would seem unjustifiable if this name were absent even for a single day in one of the city’s neighborhoods, in one of the city’s neighborhoods. From the voluminous mass of the city’s writings about Fatos and the way his ordinary case is treated, especially as a political figure of the PS, an analogy immediately arises with the fable “The Frog and the Ox”, in which the unfortunate frog, wanting to become as big as the ox, eats and puffs itself up until it bursts. Thus the frog not only failed to become an ox, but ceased to be a frog as well. The PS and “ZP” are inflating this balloon so much that they fail to understand that, in the end, it is he who will emerge morally defeated too, when all this commotion ends in a fiasco in the court’s findings. The leaders at the PS summit, its left-wing extremists, having come a cropper before constitutional legality with the 700,000 signatures, petitions and all sorts of other tricks to get Nano out of prison and declare him innocent, are today, entirely in the mindset of the old Enverian practices, playing their last card: misinterpreting the resolutions of European organizations, as in the recent case of the “Resolution on Relations between the European Community and Albania”—a resolution that has nothing in common with the headlines about Fatos Nano on the front page of “ZP”. The PS is deliberately confusing matters. By misrepresenting the facts, it seeks to create informational confusion and make citizens in general believe that such a great injustice has been done to Nano, the irreplaceable leader of the PS, that even Europe is concerned. This is such a crude deception that it is hard to make anyone well informed about Fatos and the PS believe it. As regards Fatos and the PS, people should be sure that they are not so naïve today as to believe that Europe is really so concerned about Fatos, especially when they read this resolution and find in it full confidence that Albania now functions as a democratic state governed by the rule of law, before which all citizens are equal. Likewise, people are not so naïve today as to believe that Communist or socialist members of parliament from Sicily and Greece represent Europe. It would be wise for the PS and “ZP” to get both feet back on the ground when they talk about the Nano question, and not inflate it to such proportions that tomorrow even they themselves will not believe what they are writing today and will say that they must have been blind.

They happen where the socialists govern An inspection conducted by the Control Service Branch in Berat at the civil registry office in the district of Skrapar found that its head, Ms. Sabrie Zaimi, had appropriated 1,500 lekë against a receipt as payment for 3,000 certificates obtained free of charge from the civil registry office of the district of Elbasan. This action was classified as misappropriation by Ms. Sabrie Zaimi, including in the decision of the Skrapar District Prosecutor’s Office dated 4.12.1993. On the basis of these facts, the State Control Service asked the district council leadership to impose a disciplinary measure and dismiss this employee. Despite the established facts of violations in the performance of her duties and misappropriation, the Skrapar district council, citing the family relationship between the district council chairman, Mr. Venetik Zaimi, and the head of the civil registry office, chose not to dismiss her, for reasons of expediency, and was content with only a measure of “warning with notice”. This position taken by the district council and its chairman, Mr. Venetik Zaimi, indicates not only a lack of seriousness in carrying out the state duties assigned to these bodies by law, but also the absence of any willingness to support the state control bodies against anyone who violates state laws. STATE CONTROL SERVICE

The entire top “complications that could befall were finally approved. The State Audit Service asked the presidium of the district council to take disciplinary action against this employee and dismiss her. Despite the verified evidence of violations in the performance of her duties and of embezzlement, the Skrapar district council, motivated by Zaimi, and the head of the civil registry office, and acting out of expediency, did not dismiss her, but was content with imposing only a and its chairman, Mr. Venetik Zaimi, demonstrates a complete lack of willingness to support the state oversight bodies against anyone who violates the laws of the state. STATE AUDIT SERVICE

500 lek (new) for the most striking caption. These captions for the “Find the caption for the photo” contest have arrived at the editorial office. ❖ 1. Alfred Sallaj from Fier: After stealing and cheating, I would have to shout; No matter how much they lock me up, I’ll still have my tongue outside. ❖ 2. Vasillaq Aleksi from Patos: Like a father, just from the eyes, if he himself were one too, he would have this tongue. ❖ 3. Ndodisa Lame Kalakula from Tirana submits the caption: “The snake with glasses spewing venom...” Note: Mr. Lame suggests that if he wins the contest, he would like the prize money to be donated to the PS to secure Nano’s release and to help the “underprivileged members of the PS” who ride around in cars.