President Berisha returned to the Homeland NDREKE GJINI After the successful completion of the official visit to the USA, the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, and the delegation accompanying him returned yesterday afternoon to the Homeland. To welcome President Berisha, yesterday at Rinas Airport there were the Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly, Mr. Pjetër Arbnori, members of the Government, MPs, etc. As soon as he got off the plane, Mr. Berisha was asked by journalists from the press and RTV how he would describe this official visit to the USA, and he said: “Uno would describe the visit to the USA as a very fruitful, very important and successful visit. During my stay in Washington, said Mr. Berisha, I was received at the White House by President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Secretary of State Kristof, National Security Advisor Anthony Lake and other high-ranking officials of President Clinton’s administration. At this meeting I can confirm that we had full understanding on all developments in Albania, the role and efforts of Albania in building the rule of law and the market economy, and its role in the region. Also at this meeting I received President Clinton’s full support for the simultaneous building of a legal state and a market economy in Albania, and I received his guarantee that the USA will help; American efforts will be seriously engaged in restoring the violated national rights of the Albanians of Kosovo. With President Clinton they discussed direct American aid in many fields, such as the economic, technical, military field, etc. President Clinton assured me that the USA will increase its aid by around 46 million dollars, and other additional aid will reach Albania. Likewise, during this visit I had very important meetings with Congress and the American Senate. I met the Senate majority leader, Senator Bob Dole, Congressman Gilman and the Foreign Relations Committee of the American Congress, with congressmen who have created an Albanian-American lobby in Congress and Congressman Engel. I met Senator Mc Key as well as other congressmen and senators. At all these meetings I saw the determination of the American senators and congressmen of the Senate and Congress to support Albania. I found great appreciation both from President Clinton with his administration and from friends and Congress, for Albania’s important achievements over these three years and their determination to support these achievements further in the future. When asked what the American administration’s opinion was regarding the foreign policy of the Albanian democratic government during this period, Mr. Berisha answered: “The opinion of the American administration was a very positive assessment of the important role that Albania has played and will play for peace and stability in the Balkans. It was a very positive assessment of the deep reform course to which it has committed the country and the results of these reforms.” Then President Berisha, accompanied by the chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly, passed in front of the guard of honor. After the meeting and greetings with the members of the Government and MPs who had come out to welcome him, President Berisha was given a pleasant symbolic surprise. From the square “Democracy” - of the city “Studenti” four students, representatives of the National Student Union, with national flags in their hands greeted and welcomed the President, while handing him a message on behalf of this Union. “A message in which it was said: ‘Welcome President! We rejoice in the honor and in the signified day for Albania and for the Albanian nation that expressed your total support. And then, again two or three times, another very beautiful surprise awaited President Berisha yesterday, after his return from this historic visit for Albania and the Albanians. Many citizens from Tirana had come out with cars and vehicles decorated with national flags to warmly congratulate and greet President Berisha. PHOTO: Gani Xhengo (ATSH)

Interview with the Secretary General of PDSH, Prof. Dr. Mr. Tritan Shehu - A many-sided visit - a many-sided success - “There is a logical connection between the forces of terror and the accusations that Mr. Pëllumbi, as a representative of the PS, makes to oppose cooperation with the USA and NATO - - A many-sided visit - a many-sided success - “There is a logical connection between the forces of terror and the accusations that Mr. Pëllumbi, as a representative of the PS, makes to oppose cooperation with the USA and NATO - RD: President Berisha has completed his visit to the USA. What do you think was achieved at the end of this visit? - President Berisha’s visit to the White House, his second visit there as President of Albania, is important on the political plane, on the economic plane and for the strengthening of overall cooperation between Albania and the USA. This visit is such not only because the meeting with President Clinton was realized, which is quite important, but, above all, because of the breadth and the large range of issues discussed between the two presidents as well as with high representatives of the American administration. This visit will undoubtedly mark a new development and a further strengthening of Albanian-American relations, which are very good; this has been so since the first democratic developments in Albania, when the role of this great country was encouraging for us. During this period the USA have been present and have supported us in all directions, especially here guided by their strong assistance for the solution of the national issue. The answers that the USA give today for stability, peace and respect for human rights in the Balkans, undoubtedly show, in parallel with our efforts for the respect of human rights in Kosovo, the right of that people to self-determination of their destiny, in keeping with the ideals of the Helsinki and Paris resolutions. Cooperation with the USA, which must not be seen separately from our cooperation with NATO, is of great importance for the security of Albania, the national question, and stability in the Balkans. Albania has never thought of having its territory as territory for aggression against other countries. Albania proves and is convinced that it should be only a zone of peace. Undoubtedly, the closer our cooperation with the USA and NATO is, the more Albania will turn into a factor of peace and stability in the Balkans. RD: Mr. Shehu, what is your comment regarding the reaction of the Socialist leader, Pëllumbi, to President Berisha’s declaration about the deployment of NATO military bases in our country? -The views that Mr. Pëllumbi expressed regarding military cooperation and rapprochement with the USA and NATO, regarding the relations signed with European and American organizations, regarding his disapproval of the guarantee that President Berisha gave the USA for a full military cooperation integration of Albania with NATO, as well as what he implied, that the PS has in its program to risk all the military agreements of Albania if it comes to power, are for me neither new elements nor surprising ones. They are a logical continuation of the Marxist concepts that Mr. Pëllumbi has, who considers himself part of this far-left extremist project. Mr. Pëllumbi and his party, as continuators of the PPSH, of Marx and of the teachings of the Albanian communists, undoubtedly see the USA and NATO as aggressive forces that endanger Albania, they see them as hostile forces. Their concepts of party xenophobia are encoded in the backbone of their entire life; they have materialized in the actions and proposals they make. I do not see this idea as detached; on the contrary, I see it as linked to their philosophy, to their practices as senior leaders of the PS. Meanwhile, I cannot fail to see a logical connection between the actions of certain terrorist groups that have now appeared in Albania and have started writing on walls “Yankees out!”, “Down with America!” They are nothing other than slogans thrown out by the regime of Enver Hoxha. I cannot fail to see a logical connection between these forces of terror and the accusations that Mr. Pëllumbi, as a representative of the PS, makes to oppose cooperation with the USA and NATO. The Democratic Party, already in the 1992 electoral program, a program for which the majority of the Albanian electorate voted, clearly expressed its unwavering will for the full inclusion of Albania in Euro-Atlantic military structures. Now this is a path we have begun with military agreements, with the Partnership for Peace; it is a path that will undoubtedly lead Albania toward full partnership with these structures. And President Berisha’s new proposals are undoubtedly a continuation of this policy. MUHAMET OMARI: As a jurist I would tell you that the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Ze? Brozi, has flagrantly violated procedural law, abrogating it with arrogance and giving the institution, and personally himself, the right to rise above the law and to use it according to his whim or caprice, thus creating an almost total blockage of the functional work of the offices. As a citizen, I would look at the problem from two angles: first, as everyone I believe that in a democratic state there is only law and no one can rise above the law; second, it is a sin against that people that people like Ze? Brozi, that the state! a democratic state in good faith recognizes as having a key position in the justice system, should serve this trust by violating the laws, in the name supposedly of seeking the independence of the courts, in the name supposedly... More in detail on page 3

Every village in the world could be honored to be called Peze, but your demagogy is a disgrace, comrade Namik It seems that the PS feels secure when the time comes to speak or to recall the past. In fact, ever since PD came to power, indeed ever since it began the battle to overthrow the dictatorship, it was among the first political forces of the Albanian people that denounced, reexamined, and analyzed it in the most comic way, with hatred, Hoxha’s crimes and the fantasies with them that had also included state persecution of the clans? war crimes, the complete party, etc. But the PS’s further clinging to bad fate? and the Old Man with the main one? The “Democracy” meeting that opened on 2 Peze and the one at Mukje cannot be taken separately. The Liberation War is the work of idealistic nationalists and antifascists who sacrificed their lives and honored the history of our people by placing it among the countries against the Nazi- fascist hordes. Meanwhile our historiography and for a long time to come will have to deal with this period, because there was marked one of the greatest national betrayals there. There was forged there one of the most hateful slanders that this people carried on its back for nearly 50 years. This truth was proclaimed from the beginning by the PD and it stressed that the manipulation of Peze and the betrayal of Mukje were the work of a band of criminals who did not stop the hand of crime for 50 years in a row. But even on this point the more advanced view separated the criminal deed that was forged during the War from the contribution given by the partisans again by the PS to manipulate and to display once more the ideas of the PS, which, in disguised form, echo the idea that Enver Hoxha is the chief of that whole nation and the great strategist of this War. This mission has also been taken on by Dokle in the speech he gave in Peze. In the history of the War the event of Peze and that of Mukje cannot be taken separately. The Liberation War is the work of idealistic nationalists and antifascists who sacrificed their lives and honored the history of our people by placing it among the countries against the Nazi- fascist hordes. Meanwhile our historiography and for a long time to come will have to deal with this period, because there was marked one of the greatest national betrayals there. There was forged there one of the most hateful slanders that this people carried on its back for nearly 50 years. This truth was proclaimed from the beginning by the PD and it stressed that the manipulation of Peze and the betrayal of Mukje were the work of a band of criminals who did not stop the hand of crime for 50 years in a row. But even on this point the more advanced view separated the criminal deed that was forged during the War from the contribution given by the partisans of the (Continues on page 2)

- Keeping the red executioners and the former Bolshevik nomenklatura outside political life is in the interest of democracy and of those very people PAGE 2 In a democratic state no one can rise above the law PAGE 3