-Announcement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Order- On 15 April, at around 20:30, the young men Skender Rasim Morina, 25, and Lulzim Sadik Morina, 22, were executed with a burst of automatic gunfire by a Serbian border patrol, near pyramid D/6, around 150 metres inside the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Skender had six wounds on his body: one in his left leg, one in the pelvic bone, three in his right shoulder and one in his head. Lulzim had five wounds: three in his left leg, one in his chest and one in his head. The two young men, treacherously killed, were teachers at the elementary school in their village of Pogaj, in the Has district. The day before, they had gone to visit relatives in Goruzhop, in the Municipality of Prizren, and, while returning, they were caught in the burst of automatic gunfire from Serbian border forces. On 16 April, the local commission of inquiry, as well as the group of experts from the Albanian and Serbian sides, went to the scene. It was established that the victims had no weapons or other means of defence with them. One of them had only a small mirror and a piece of chocolate in his pocket. Judging from the position of the wounds, it was concluded that the Albanian citizens were first shot in the legs to stop them. Then the Serbian border guards approached them and, from a very short, immeasurable distance, treacherously, knowing they were wounded in the legs, executed them with automatic weapons, shooting them in the head and chest. The Ministry of Public Order calls on all Albanian citizens not to cross the border illegally for any reason. They should carry the proper documentation and travel only through the crossing points. -ATSH-

The criteria for granting loans clearly stipulate that every natural or legal person engaged in commercial, collection or production activity within the territory of the Republic of Albania has the right to obtain a bank loan, on the basis of their application and certain other documents needed to assess the client in advance and establish the necessary preliminary guarantees. Even during the first steps of the privatisation process, which coincided with the beginning of the transition, some individuals’ appetite for bank loans increased considerably. The immediate satisfaction of having a substantial amount of cash in hand made them forget the trouble they would later face in repaying the loan on time. Thus, with loans obtained under criteria both proper and improper, the more resourceful made a success of things by starting a commercial activity and so on, and in a short time they put their personal finances on their feet. Naturally, two years ago this action was considered normal and legal, even though a good number of them acted consciously at the time in order to cheat the state as much as they could. They were also helped by the favourable conditions: the lack of legislation, disorder and an altruistic spirit. Under these circumstances, applying modern criteria for loan repayment was difficult, and the records kept were formal, impossible to check and unsupported by the responsible state bodies. These phenomena belong to the period 1991–92, and the situation has now been somewhat normalised. The bank has introduced strict rules for granting loans, but the borrowers from earlier times remain a concern. Perhaps the repeated cultivation of the mistaken, entirely unfounded notion that “the loans will be forgiven” has led debtors to say to the bank: “Where have I seen you before?!” Today you see them swaggering around in luxury cars or buses, making hefty profits; some have even used bank loans to obtain a visa to go abroad. Surveys carried out at the National Commercial Bank reveal serious figures, and the time has come for the State Audit Service to make someone account for them. In the district of Dibra, overdue loans make up 55 percent of the outstanding loan balance at the end of February. The table also lists Mirdita at 59 percent, Kukës and Tropojë at 60 percent each, Mat at 75 percent, and, at the top of the table, Tirana, with 86 percent of loans unpaid. Bank managers are somewhat concerned about this situation and blame the judicial authorities, who, they say, are not helping enforce the legal provisions. According to explanations from some employees of the Commercial Bank, in response to a question about the procedure for dealing with a delinquent debtor: once the loan repayment deadline has passed, the bank classifies it as overdue, with higher interest rates. For the first month, the interest increases by 50 percent, and afterwards the interest rises to 100 percent. If the loan is still not repaid after these penalties, the bank is obliged to turn to the judicial authorities, as it has indeed done. “I have sent 88 requests to the courts for criminal prosecution, and not one has been carried out,” explains Agim Hamolli, director of the credit department at the National Commercial Bank. This bank has also made its concern known to (Continued on page 2)

In honour of the delegation of the People’s Assembly, headed by Pjeter Arbnori, the deputy chairwoman of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress, Lei Cietsung, hosted a dinner at the Grand Hotel in Beijing on 13 April. During dinner, views were exchanged on strengthening relations between the two parliaments as a way of furthering mutual understanding and encouraging cooperation in other fields as well. On his return journey to Athens, Mr Arbnori met the prime minister, Bujar Bukoshi, in Zurich, and exchanged views with him on matters of mutual interest. On Sunday, the delegation of the People’s Assembly arrived in Tirana.

As part of the now institutionalised meetings with the people, the secretary-general of the DP, Tritan Shehu, and the deputy minister of Agriculture and Food, Myslym Osmani, held several meetings in the district of Gramsh. IN THE TOWN: COMPLAINTS AND GRIEVANCES ABOUT THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES. A meeting with members and supporters of the DP in the town of Gramsh was held in the same manner, with regard to the complaints. Concerns related to ... were predominant. Afterwards, he spoke about the PD’s rural supporters as an electorate rather than as militants, about the progress of the reform, its difficulties, etc.

. Afterwards, he spoke about the nature of the DP as an electoral party and not a party of militants, the progress of the reform, its difficulties, etc. The villagers congratulated the gentlemen on these meetings and called for them to be held more often. They raised issues such as investment in four electric pumps, which are now needed to irrigate 370 hectares of land. They stressed the need for credit support to buy tractors and combine harvesters, and for investment to improve the road connecting the villages of Posnovisht, Kishtе and Bersnik. Numerous complaints about the poor effectiveness of the local authorities also took up a considerable part of the discussion.

The newspaper “ZP” continues along its path of misinforming public opinion about events taking place in our country and about respected national figures. Such was the content of the interview Namik Dokle gave to this newspaper on 4 April 1994. When I read it, I was extremely indignant, because there is nothing real in it. Dokle compares himself with Fatos Beja. But the figure of the democrat Shefqet Beja is far removed from that of their leader, Fatos Namik Dokle. He goes so far as to call them brothers in democracy. Dokle apparently forgets the historical moments in which these men lived, so, by way of reminder, I will list some facts that shed light on why his comparison of Shefqet Beja with Fatos Nano is absurd. 1) Shefqet Beja lived at a time when the country had begun to put its criminal plan into practice, whereas the Labour-Socialist Nano lives in the era of democracy, where human rights are flourishing day by day. Shefqet Beja, as a leader of the Democratic Front Organisation, a creation of the N.Çl Front, saw that the programmes and political platform of the Front were being violated and usurped day by day by the dictator E.Hoxha and the infamous Communist Party, which forced Shefqet Beja to retreat ... and from the clothing, despite the carnation. Shefqet Beja was “defended” by a lawyer appointed by the communists, who never once spoke about Bashebeja. Beja was his own lawyer, whereas Nano was defended by two indoctrinated lawyers who, like their client, did not speak because they did not know what to say. Shefqet Beja did not dare 5) Shefqet Beja came from a merchant family that put its wealth at the service of the struggle, supplying the partisan units with food and clothing (as the Durrës historian D.Bebeziçi so aptly described in his paper delivered on the occasion of the decoration “Martyr of Democracy”), whereas your Nano could not even cross his legs, because he immediately heard the executioner Josif Pashko calling out: “Stand straight, defendant!” while your Nano struck actress-like poses that made people “chuckle”. You call this a comparison, comrade Namik? 3) Shefqet Beja was convicted because he demanded Western-style democracy, whereas Fatos Nano was convicted as a fraudster and thief, and in no hearing was he ever charged with a political offence, even though he still calls E.Hoxha “the father of the nation and founder of the Albanian state”. This “father” executed Shefqet Beja by hanging. Are these comparable figures, Mr Dokle? 4) Shefqet Beja was convicted for his ideas, which he had expressed as early as 1932, at the age of 20 (see the magazines “Koha e Re” and “Rilindja” of Korçë from 1932–1937), whereas Fatos Nano has not been affected by his association, whether giving or receiving, at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, where pluralism was alien. Shall we call this a metaphor, Mr Dokle? Shefqet Beja, as a leader of the Democratic Front Organization, an offshoot of the N.Çl Front, observed that day by day the programs of the Front’s political platform were being detached from it and usurped by the dictator E.Hoxha and the infamous communist party. This prompted Shefqet Beja, together with a group of patriotic, devoted compatriots, to declare that our struggle and efforts had been in vain if democracy and pluralism, with all the attributes that derive from this term, were not to be restored in Albania, regardless of religion or ideology. Whereas the Labour-Socialist Nano, with the legerdemain of a conjurer, wants at all costs to prove and have it accepted that the PP-S, with the “cadres” it has at its head, has been renewed and has no connection whatsoever with the dictatorship and the dictator, whose name he never once mentioned, and who brought so much bloodshed, terror, suffering, exile and impoverishment to this country and this people. Is this a fair comparison, comrade Dokle? 2) Shefqet Beja’s trial was a political trial, where the communists filling the cinema hall and “representing the people” shouted wildly and inappropriately: “Death to the traitors!” Fatos Nano’s trial was an ordinary criminal trial, and there was not a single “ilani” in the courtroom. They brought Shefqet Beja (those who saw him remember this) to trial with his shirt unbuttoned and his body covered in bruises, whereas your Nano was beaming with health. its wealth at the service of the war, supplying D.Bebeziqi so vividly award “Martyr of Democracy”). Your Nano, on the other hand, came from the “class” strata and was so well provided for that he could benefit from the people’s sweat and toil; he went so far as to falsify documents and appropriate the aid that was sent to this people. What kind of comparison is this? When I was little, I was fooled by the Bible your father held between his teeth as he enticed us children to buy sugarcane. But with this comparison you are making, you cannot entice anyone, because these are nothing but “delusions,” and people know all about them—especially the people of Durrës, who know Shefqet Beja so well and know so much about him. They not only loved him dearly, but also wrote poems in his honor. Therefore, on behalf of his family, I recall the Latin words “Non mi tangere” (do not touch me), since we feel insulted and angered. FATMIR BEJA Neighborhood No. 1, “H.Toplini” Street Regional Palace, [unclear] Durres Photographic portrait of a man wearing glasses.

Travelling through the district of Gramsh, within the contours of a backward district, one comes across a small agricultural area which inspires optimism in you as an observer. The land is planted and cultivated from edge to edge, the crops are in good condition, and the farmers are working their land. These things prompt me to ask the deputy minister about the realistic production forecast. “At least a 20% increase compared with last year’s,” he says. And what the agricultural landscape before your eyes imposes on you as a traveller and observer was also confirmed by the farmers of Kodovjat at their meeting with Mr Tritan Shehu and Myslym Osmani. The land has been fully divided, and title deeds have been distributed to 80% of people: this is the current reality regarding the most important issue, that of land, as reported by the secretary of the municipal council, Bilbil Dyrmishi. “This means that you have become free owners,” said Mr Shehu. “It means that the DP has fulfilled its main promise: making the majority of the population owners of property, in order to create room for private initiative.”

Speaking about the political situation in the region, Mr. Shehu highlighted the efforts of Serbian chauvinist forces and Greek reactionary circles—efforts coordinated to Albania’s detriment. The incident in Peshkep i Gjirokastres, where two young Albanians were killed, shows that national consciousness must be strengthened and that the national ideal must unite people. On the other hand, Mr. Shehu said that the forceful condemnation of the Greek action by Albanian political parties is an indication of the fact that Albanians know how to rise above their interests

In the same way, as regards procedural complaints, a meeting was held with members and supporters of the PD in the city of Gramsh. The predominant concerns arose from the poor performance of the local authorities. It is well known how delicate the issue of

ELBASAN: 32 members, 50% of them young people, formed the PD section for intellectuals in the medical field in the city of Elbasan. Mr. Xhemil Onori was elected section chairman, while Ms. Hatixhe Cekja was elected secretary. A section for university intellectuals was also established, with lecturer Kristo Boçi as chairman and Mr. Bardh Musaj as secretary. 35 members and others, teachers at secondary schools, formed their own PD section, with Mr. Stefan Bebi as chairman and Mr. Mustafa Shyti as secretary.

On Wednesday, April 20, 1994, at 11:00, PD Chairman Mr. Eduard Selami will hold a press conference at the Press Center near the Palace of Congresses. In addition to journalists, representatives of the Diplomatic Corps are invited to attend.

[Small writing beneath the caricature, illegible]