Yesterday in the People’s Assembly ... as well as several amendments to the law On the State Sanitary Inspectorate The Chairman of the State Audit Service, Mr. Blerim Cela, answers questions from Kakulakes and Baletes NDREKE GJINI The People’s Assembly held yesterday’s proceedings in a plenary session. At the beginning of the session, the Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, Mr. Peter Arbnori, informed the deputies about the meeting of the Presidium of this Assembly, and the heads of the parliamentary groups about placing on the agenda for consideration and approval the decree of the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, “On the issuance and distribution of privatization vouchers”; the draft law ratifying the agreement between the Albanian and German Governments on the project “Support for laying the foundations for entrepreneurial activity”; and the draft law “On the abolition of turnover tax on chemical fertilizers, copper wires and cables produced domestically.” After discussion of these matters, it was decided by a majority vote to place them on the agenda. Deputies Dokle and Cani (Continued on page 3)

The country seeking Europe... “Albania, the country seeking Europe, the country experiencing the sweet taste of freedom ...” “Albania, the country seeking Europe, the country experiencing the sweet taste of freedom...” was the subject of a special programme on Albania’s democratic and economic developments, broadcast three days ago by RAIDUE, the second channel of Italian state television and one of RAI’s most prestigious channels. The programme gave an overview of the chaotic and hopeless situation prevailing in our country during 1990–92, up to the victory of democracy. “The 1,500 days of freedom are no small thing for the oldest nation in the Balkans and a country that experienced the communist hell,” said the Italian journalist. The country with the largest number of bunkers in Eastern Europe in proportion to its population now counts over 170,000 cars. The Meksi government has drawn up a programme to establish modern infrastructure with the participation of Albanian and foreign capital, with 60% of your investments coming from Italy and the EC. “The economy is experiencing a high level of development compared with five years ago, when the country suffered from hunger and unemployment. As 60 years ago, Italian aid is now proving highly effective in building the new economic development structures; the construction of power plants and water supply systems is being supported at every turn,” the Italian journalist simply stated. Albania is currently open to all European countries that, in the recent past, were considered enemies, thanks to the effective cooperation pursued by the Albanian government, which is trying to equip the country with a modern, European-calibre constitution.” These were the words with which the special programme on the situation in our country after the victory of democracy concluded. EDVIN MORAVA

Speech by Mr. Leka Toto, member of the PDSH Presidium, at the Extraordinary Conference Honourable delegates, I am concerned that today we have gathered here over an issue which, in my opinion and that of ... an Orwell-84-style dictatorship, it is not capable of embodying the vital interests of the nation. It continues to listen to the siren song in a press that is more ... 2. We must fight with all our strength to ensure that the past, or its forms changed over time, never returns. A distinguished psychoanalyst says that the feeling of guilt is ...

ATSH — Yesterday, the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Portugal, Mr. Heitor Prestes Mia

The day before yesterday, at the meeting of the Extraordinary Commission of the People’s Assembly, Mr. Eduard Selami revealed the secret foreshadowed at the Shkodra assembly and at the press conference held just two days before his dismissal—or the second condition, after the Constitution, for Albania’s admission to the Council of Europe. This admission by Mr. Selami not the protection of thieves nor the amendments, but the failure of the courts. In this statement, Mr. Selami also reproached Mr. Dokle for his announcement from Strasbourg, where he stated that he had been promised the Nano case could be resolved after Albania’s accession to the Council of Europe. Thus, one of the two sides is lying to us Some think this censorship by ZP was carried out to protect Selami, so as not to portray him “as an element of ...” by the socialists, because the democrats say, “if ZP kisses you, the devil has kissed you.” Others say that publication by a derivative of ZP and not by ZP itself was ordered by Comrade Foreign Minister Bashkim Zeneli himself, with the aim of ... disclosed the secret he had foreshadowed at the meeting in Shkoder his dismissal, concerning the Constitution and Shkoder his dismissal, concerning the Constitution and Mr. Selami made this account on Tuesday, at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Policy. Asked by the PS Foreign Minister, Mr. Bashkim Zeneli, to tell the Committee what the other condition was that Mr. Selami had repeatedly announced, as had ZP itself through its chairman, Selami surprised the Committee by saying that the other condition was the release of Mr. Nano from prison. According to him, this request had been made to him, but “privately.” I think the truth is that the official documents sent to the Albanian side by the Council of Europe’s committees state that the Constitution is no longer a condition for Albania’s membership in the Council of Europe, and the Nano issue is even less so. The latter, for everyone who knows the Council of Europe, is neither a condition nor could it be one, since for this institution the fundamental requirement for a democracy is not interference but the independence of the courts. Moreover, in this statement Mr. Selami also contradicted the report from Strasbourg, which said that it had been promised that the Nano issue could be resolved after Albania’s admission to the Council of Europe. Thus, one of these two is either deceiving the Council of Europe, or does not want Nano to be released from prison, and this casts a dark shadow over Dokle himself. But the relations between Nano, Dokle, and Selami are their internal affairs, not anyone else’s. The paradox does not lie in Selami’s statements, since it is easy to understand why they are being made now, after the conference. The paradox lies in ZP’s censorship of Selami’s statements, entrusting their publication to Gazeta Shqiptare—which has nothing Albanian about it—and the newspaper “Koha Jone,” both known for their origins and their old connections as sister publications of ZP. The paradox also lies in the fact that ZP, which had been the first to uncover Selami’s secret a few days ago in the morning and publish it as a leading article, is now censoring his statement. Nano’s party newspaper does not publish this fact ... [unclear] ... The analysts but not to present it “as another element,” so as not to portray it “as such an element” to the socialists, because our democrats—if ZP kisses you, the devil has not kissed you. Others say that publication by ZP derivatives rather than ZP itself was ordered by the Foreign Minister in the shadows, Bashkim Zeneli, in order to make Selami more credible with the PS electorate. Still others say that some members of the PS’s shadow cabinet absolutely do not want Nano released, since, apparently, without consulting the shadow cabinet’s list, he might destroy them before even taking the coveted seat, as he would settle accounts with them; that is why they removed the article from the editions, saying that Selami’s gems would not win the elections. They even went so far as to say that Selami had been unleashed by Berisha as a free agent precisely to split the PS, or that he himself had chosen this mission after failing to split the PD. Other skeptics at the head of the PS say: let us wait and see what other treasures he will uncover, because nobody believes him based on what he has said so far, and we would discredit ourselves by publishing his bulletin. MENTOR SHEHU

anti-communist Dear delegates, I feel that, in my opinion and, I believe, in the opinion of the majority, is wrong—At a critical moment in our history, when the steps of the past that wants to return can be felt in the corridors of time, withdrawing from the path of freedom along which a people, having suffered and been bloodied for centuries, is walking seems strange to me. Nevertheless, the fact that we have gathered here today clearly proves the members’ wisdom in Einstein’s saying that error has as much value as truth; without it, you cannot see the truth. As is known, we are a people who, throughout our history, can point to only a few years in which we lived in freedom. The generations still alive have felt its fragrance only over these last two or three years. But if you have not tasted freedom deeply, you cannot love it as the most precious thing. So, from what I have said above, it is self-evident that we are at the stage of stammering; yet, strangely, we are so incapacitated by it that many are afraid of stammering, and after it they sense the vortex of anarchy, which inevitably leads to a dictatorship like the one of the past. Our intelligentsia, the people who make up what is called the elite, have unfortunately not so far played the role of the vanguard that every emancipated society needs—Deformed by

ATSH — Yesterday, the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Portugal, Mr. Heitor Prestes Mia E Silva, who presented his Letters of Credence. ATSH — Mr. Heitor Prestes Mia E Silva, who presented his Letters of Credence. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfred Serreqi, also attended the ceremony for the presentation of the Letters of Credence.

DUKAGJIN HATA The holding of the PD Extraordinary Conference in accordance with the rules and practices of democracy showed another sign of the PD’s political emancipation, since the great freedom in Albania has overturned the communist edifice of violence and the suppression of democratic institutions. The black-ink press, with its aged mind at the forefront, but the ZP leadership, [unclear] politics, portrayed the open and democratic nature of this conference as a class struggle to proclaim free thought and the PD’s new political values. The congress began its marathon in the December of the Students, to become a source of faith and hope for Albanians who wanted to part forever with the bad past and be free individuals in a free democratic society. It is precisely this—the PD’s courage to part with what is bad, to reform and emancipate itself—that intrigues and makes these voices of the black press cynical and jealous. They report on the conference and have attached to it a rusty Marxist aggression, labeling it with the words “victory” and “defeat” according to their autocratic principles, and denounce the PD Extraordinary Conference using terminology typical of their father, Enver. But the truth is that this conference, in itself, completely open and democratic, [unclear] and democratic, [unclear] and other developments, could lead The marathon began and other developments, could lead [unclear] water to the communists’ mill, who, as is known, grind ideological “grain.” The old craftsmen of destructivism would do well to “learn lessons” from the PD Extraordinary Conference, since their political masters, who lead by the codes of gritting teeth and breaking bones, cannot make any [unclear], cannot bear the dictatorship of the one-man leader. It is the same mentality inherited from their polybureau predecessors, who trumpet the “steel unity” of the Party’s ranks, while the “enemies” of the line were lynched with bullets like heretics at the stake. Such misused terms as “the end of diversity of thought,” “the slogan of tolerance,” “ironclad transparency,” and “the clan and clique struggle has intensified,” which the archaic little paper “ZP” amplifies, may have something to do with anything—even a kind of loss of logic, which this little paper has always lacked—but not with the political reality within the PD, which was outlined with a more emancipated spectrum of transparency and tolerance at its Extraordinary Conference. Distortions. “Pluralism means respect for the opposition, for opposing views,” says the “analyst” of ZP in “defense” of those who remained in the minority and speaks unanimously; but the “analyst” seems to forget that the minority must submit to the majority. We have no choice but to remind him of this rule of democracy within democratic parties. But, of course, they neither know nor can know this rule in the PS, the worthy successor to the PP. The PD held an Extraordinary Conference in full accordance with all the rules of democratic practice and once again displayed signs of political emancipation within the party. And if there were winners, as the “analyst” of “ZP” insists, then naturally the first winners were the PD itself and democracy in Albania.

SAMI MILLOSHI In an interview published on Wednesday in the newspaper “Koha Jone,” PS MP Pandeli Majko says, among other things, that “Jone,” the PS’s alliance with the PD, was one of the serious mistakes made by left-wing politics recently. Trying to explain that “the PS is not a political ruin,” Mr. Majko later concludes in this interview that “the provocations in cafés and the ‘games’ about cooperation with the ‘honest parts’ of the parties must end,” just as the politics of those politicians who have forgotten how to speak in the first person and speak only in “we” must come to an end. Naturally, Mr. Majko has sufficient information about the PS, which is why he has reached this conclusion and why he speaks with some nervousness. If he does not name those in the PS who speak in “we,” or, as can be understood, those who have usurped the PS leadership and want to put it—and have put it—into a “choir” that allows no dissenting opinion in the PS, that does not mean the public does not know them by their first and last names. They are Pellumbi and Ruci and their associates. For the sake of truth, it must be said that eurosocialist Majko has not only been suffering this usurpation of the PS leadership for some time, but will continue to suffer it for a long time. The reason is as simple as it is tragic: the PS’s structure has been built on the old structure of the PP, where individual thought, or speaking in the first person, was not permitted by the nomenklatura. Those at the head of Mr. Majko’s party find it difficult to give up that way of speaking. This means they are the same old mould of PP bureaucrats, only now they have changed their suits and visit Strasbourg more often. However, there is no doubt that eurosocialist Majko also knows that socialism, and even more so European socialism, cannot be achieved merely by changing suits and visiting Strasbourg.

The Extraordinary Commission of the People’s Assembly: Mr. Eduard Selami disclosed the secret he had foreshadowed at the meeting in Shkoder and at the press conference held just two days before his dismissal, concerning the Constitution and the Constitution, for Albania’s admission to the Council of Europe.

Read on pages 2 and 3 the speeches delivered by Messrs. Blerim Cela, Ibrahim Vasjari, Shaban Memia and Shkëlqim Hoxha at the extraordinary conference of the PDSH

Mr. Chairman, Honourable deputies, Four years ago, in the final days of February and the beginning of March, Albanian democrats, at the forefront of the most powerful anti-communist popular revolt Albania had ever known, toppled the dictator’s busts and the symbols of the Hoxhaist dictatorship. Former President Ramiz Alia ordered the security forces to fire on Tirana’s brave demonstrators on 20 February 1991. But this order was not carried out. Under these circumstances, the communist leadership planned a coup d’état. To carry it out, former President Alia decreed that he assume extraordinary powers, overthrow the government, and establish a Presidential Council and a provisional government. On the morning of the 22nd, the infamous February government was sworn in, and in the afternoon it set eagerly to work implementing the sinister scenario, which resulted in the martyrdom of: Ismail Çapari, 29 years old, killed on 22 February 1991 at 18:15 Lulzim Sullolari, 20 years old, killed on 22 February 1991 at 19:00 Pelumb Tahiri, 32 years old, killed on 22 February 1991 at 19:10 Artur Daka, 15 years old, killed on 22 February 1991 at 20:00 Lulzim Barçaj, 28 years old, killed on 23 February 1991 Artan Lenja, 20 years old, killed on 24 February 1991 at 18:00 Spartak Deliu, 15 years old, killed on 6 March 1991 Mikel Lara, 28 years old, killed on 30 March 1991 During this massacre, a further 32 young men and women were wounded. To honour the martyrs of February and March 1991, the PD parliamentary group calls for: 1) The erection in Tirana of an obelisk in memory of the martyrs of this massacre. 2) The establishment of a parliamentary commission to investigate the organizers and perpetrators of this massacre. 3) The General Prosecutor’s Office to open an investigation to identify and punish the organizers and perpetrators of this massacre. We also propose that Parliament observe one minute of silence in honour of the memory of those who fell.

Today at 11:00, the President of the Republic, Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, will hold a press conference at the Presidency. Accredited journalists are invited to attend.