Files are closed for 30 years for all Albanian citizens; opened only for career politicians until 2002 Files are closed for 30 years for all Albanian citizens Opened only for career politicians until 2002

President BERISHA received Ambassador Robert Frouik yesterday Photo: G. XHENGO President of the Republic Sali Berisha received yesterday Ambassador Robert Frouik, representative of the American Government in the OSCE Special Working Group, for the implementation of the Dayton Agreement in the former Yugoslavia. Ambassador Frouik informed the President about the mission of the OSCE Group for the conduct of elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, monitoring the protection of human rights and ensuring a controlled arms regime for the stabilization of the region. President Berisha once again valued in this meeting the historic Dayton Agreement for establishing in Bosnia-Herzegovina and stability in the Balkans, as well as the role of NATO in its implementation. He emphasized the importance of resolving the Kosovo problem for achieving long-term peace in the region. President Berisha welcomed the efforts of the OSCE to restore its monitors in Kosovo, but insisted on the necessity of including the Kosovo issue in the peace talks in former Yugoslavia. The red line that was removed by President Bush for Kosovo and that was taken up again by President Clinton, was, he said, a prior step in the paradigm of the establishment of the conflict in Kosovo and I believe that President Clinton and the American government have a crucial role in resolving the Kosovo issue, without which there will be no secure peace in former Yugoslavia. Albania is determined to encourage dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade in the presence of a third party and will support efforts for the peaceful solution of the Kosovo problem.

EDITORIAL Divorce from the past The People’s Assembly yesterday closed one of the most difficult chapters of the communist dictatorship in Albania. Albanian society yesterday cast off from its consciousness the anguish of a dark past that has criminalized a not small part of it. With a just law on the files, the People’s Assembly closed the files for all ordinary Albanian citizens and allowed people in politics who yesterday cooperated with the communist dictatorship, to present themselves in 2002. In this light, the opponents of the draft law are exposed within a circle of very short diameter. The politicians who oppose this draft law are those who began their careers under the dictatorship and continue them by inertia until, under the pressure of the files, a certain electorate criminalized by the dictatorship remains. The aggressiveness of a small list of names from politics toward this law shows first that this law removes from the political scum the electorate criminalized. This law snatches from the claws of the secret police the victim who removes from the influence of security circles the people who accepted cooperation with it in a dark situation of Albanian society. This is essentially the great cleansing and the greatest clarity that the Democratic Party gives to Albanian society. On the other hand, the nervousness of some politicians toward the draft law comes from the fact that they are old politicians not only in years but also in ideas. Feeling the pressure of the evolution of Albanian society and the political class in the country, the class of inertia that is at the head of the PS and PSD feels that this is a class to which Albanian society can trust even in the next century. Their vision of democracy and the expected processes in Albania are far behind the pace of the next century. On the other hand, it is highly convincing that with this law the Democratic Party gains a great dimension of tolerance and appears before Albanians with a law that helps best the unification of the nation, Albanians with a law that helps best the unification of the nation. Regardless of how Nano or Pellumbi, Ruçi, or Abdiu, Gjinari or Teta experience this law, Albanians feel relieved that until the beginning of the next century the law protects them from the erosion of communism in Albanian politics. This fact has apparently also been understood by some elements within the Socialist Party who yesterday took part in the discussion in parliament on this very law despite the principled opposition they have as a parliamentary group. This means that even now the Socialist Party appears to be a political movement that will naturally turn against everything incriminating, a party for which democracy means the opposite of dictatorship and its homogeneous remnants. In the next century Albanian socialists will no longer break any party that keeps Marxism and right-wing social democracy in its program. They must be allowed to deserve the chances that Europe and the European left give them for dialogue on both sides, with at their head the true reformers who can completely change the party vision, which in its current state is highly criminalized.

Speech by Prime Minister Meksi delivered yesterday in Parliament The draft law “On the control of the image of high-ranking officials of state politics for the protection of the democratic state”, verifies only those persons who want to direct the political and state life of the country; if they do not step aside on their own, they must be cleared first, leave their sins as free people, if they have not committed direct crimes. The others, ordinary people among them and the victims who do not aspire to a political career for the harm of Albanians and of Albania, this law protects F.2

The “ironclad” unity of the PS suffered serious cracks yesterday. This time, the entire near-collapse and risk-causing issue of Nano, so widely discussed within the ranks of this party, is what has led to the outlining of clearly opposing lines. Nano’s loyalists, with Dokle, Lelumbi, Ruçi and, like their leader himself, aligned themselves to let Nano go free in the political arena, openly opposing the rule of law. According to them, the Nano issue will be resolved after the election victory through a political act, openly disregarding the independence of the judiciary. Whereas Hajdaraga, on the contrary, has stated that they will not release Nano, but will put him on trial independently, in accordance with the laws in force. As learned from internal sources in the PS, Hajdaraga’s position and that of his supporters has caused sharp reactions among the conservative leaders of the PS, which has led to the widening of divergences in the leadership pyramid of this party.

Hajdaraga is terrified by the Enverist tide It has been a name for Hajdaraga at a meeting with about one hundred members of the PS in one of the halls of the Institute of the Arts. “We have no business with America,” declared Sokol Hyksa, a PS activist, a statement that caused a reaction from the podium as a sign of disapproval. But it was the reaction of the hall that shook Hajdaraga and everyone who believes in a possible reform of the PS. The activists gathered in the hall were in no way in agreement with the PS leader Hajdaraga. On the contrary, for several minutes they applauded Sokol Hysa for his anti-American statement.

The end of a leadership Great losers The approval last night by the Albanian Parliament of the law “On the control of the image of high officials and other persons who are linked to the protection of the democratic state”, has definitely left the PS without a head, marking the end of its Enverist leadership. F.3

NDREKE GJINI Albanian politics today has a new dimension. It will be cleaner and more moral. The decriminalization law finally removes from it the politics inherited from the communist dictatorial regime. Thus, with decriminalization, the figure of officials and other persons who want to be linked with high democratic politics are necessarily going through a sieve that classifies them as eligible candidates for future voters. Albania, by choosing democracy once and for all, cleanses its future politics. According to the law, it is time not for criminals to fear Albanian politics. Long discussions and debates were caused by the examination and approval of this law. But this situation is normal when it comes to a law of such importance. This happens because it is a law discussed and approved by a Parliament in which only 3-4 years ago, there were sitting government officials who had files, investigators, prosecutors or former police ministers, bearers of the victims of these files. Those present discussed the law strongly, calling it genocide, divisive, etc., and explained this position with all the other arguments. The lawmakers finally voted in favor, feeling that above all they were voting for themselves as free people, people of the future, and not militants of the past. As the days ahead approach, it now appears that not even one vote of the state of emergency will save PS from the punishment for the arrogant egoism of the past and the trap of the former security service.

Berisha congratulates Bosnian athletes President Berisha received Messrs. Stefan Kluji and Jusuf Rushina, members of the Cabinet of President Alia Izetbegović, as well as officials of the National Sports Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina. President Berisha congratulated them on the beginning of the participation of Bosnian athletes in international activities and expressed confidence that the implementation of the Dayton Agreement will create opportunities for broad cooperation between our two countries. Mr. Kluji said that he was pleased that the first match of the Bosnian national football team was being held in Albania, a friendly country and people of Bosnia.

On the occasion of the national holiday, 28 November, President Berisha has received congratulatory telegrams from US President Clinton, German President Herzog, French President Chirac, Queen Elizabeth of England, Italian President Scalfaro, Japanese Emperor Akihito, Chinese President Zemin, Russian President Yeltsin, King of Spain Juan Carlos, from heads of state of other countries of the European Union, Turkish President Demirel, Bulgarian President Zhelev, Greek President Stephanopoulos, Macedonian President Gligorov, as well as from presidents of other countries in our region, in Central and Eastern Europe, and from heads of state from many other countries in Asia and Africa. President Berisha has also received many congratulatory telegrams from international institutions, patriotic associations and foreign political and non-political organizations, from many countries around the world, from branches of the democratic movement of Kosovo in Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Croatia, etc., as well as from prominent political and social figures. ATSH