PDSH Chairman Mr. Tritan Shehu received the U.S. ambassador and the Russian ambassador in Albania . On 7-4-1997, PDSH chairman Mr. Tritan Shehu held a meeting with the U.S. ambassador and the Russian ambassador in Albania. The discussion focused on the political situation in our country. Also, Mr. Lino, the U.S. ambassador and the Russian ambassador, Mr. Avdeev, discussed the situation in the city of Vlora and the necessary measures that must be taken to get out of this situation. At the meeting it was emphasized once again that the key to resolving the Albanian crisis is the restoration of lawful authority, state control and administration, the fight against banditry, and the dissolution of the so-called committees, the self-styled governments. All those present assessed that the establishment of public order is the first condition for resolving the Albanian crisis. Mr. Lino stressed that the Democratic Party's proposals are completely realistic and are in line with the commitments Albania has made to European institutions. He said that there can be no elections without order and calm. In the conditions of the absence of public order and of a functional administration, he said, elections would be a farce. He stated that without the return of state authority in the south and without disarming the so-called committees, it is impossible to hold free and fair elections. After this, Mr. Lino set out what he said are the key points of the democratic program for solving the Albanian crisis. First, according to him, severe measures must be taken against the armed gangs and for the restoration of order. Second, state structures must be armed and returned to normal. Third, a calm climate must be created and citizens must have guarantees for their lives and property. Fourth, the elections must be free and fair and under the control of international bodies. Meanwhile, he requested that the elections be held only after the situation in the country has calmed down. He said that the decision to set the election date should be taken only after all political forces have been consulted and after order and security have been restored in the country. He added that any other solution would be damaging to the democratic process. He also stressed that the U.S. and Russia can provide valuable assistance for the peaceful resolution of the crisis and for strengthening legal institutions in Albania.

Today marks one month since the Political Agreement, signed in the presence of the President of the Republic, through which Ylli Bufi and the political forces represented by him in government undertook the leadership of the country and made their program known. During this time, the government led by Bufi, that is, the national reconciliation government, said and propagated that it was restoring calm to the country, that it was working to reestablish state authority, and that it was doing everything possible to prevent a civil war. Indirectly, however, it stated that during this time work was being done to prepare new parliamentary elections in June. During these four weeks, the government did not do much to achieve these objectives. Instead of adhering precisely to its program, it was from time to time drawn into outright political scenes, and for some of its leaders it was then understood that they had embarked on other dispersions.[?] The four political forces that joined this government took over the country in its darkest state. The insurgents in the south had almost completely destroyed the government forces and public order forces in that part of the homeland. The ethnic cleansing of the police and of the SHIK throughout the south of the country was almost a reality. Armed gangs controlled almost all the roads and major cities of Albania. The then government headed by Aleksandër Meksi resigned to make way for the national reconciliation government. The President of the Republic appointed Ylli Bufi as prime minister. Immediately after the creation of the national reconciliation government, the situation worsened even further. Apart from Tirana, everywhere else in the country public order was almost entirely broken down. The squares and streets of the capital did not stand up to the insurgents from the south. The country was day by day heading toward what is called civil war. The situation that had arisen in the country also had another side, the political one. Or rather, war had a zone of action only in the south. The only enemies that the national reconciliation government had and has are the bandit groups. Naturally, the national reconciliation government should have declared war on them and sought to capture them one by one. In fact, that is not what happened. The government did not strike the armed groups and did not attempt to arrest any of their leaders. It did not try to restore state and police authority in the south. On the contrary, from time to time it cast doubt on the legality of the President's decisions, the legality of the forces that obeyed him, the police and the SHIK. The national reconciliation government did not declare war on the gangs but, apparently, decided to negotiate with them. In doing so, it simultaneously recognized those structures that had taken on the attributes of the state. The Public Salvation Committees became, for the government, also an address with which it negotiated. In fact, these latter were and remained criminal and usurping structures. The national reconciliation government did not consider them as such, but still continues to talk with their leaders. It shifted or projected the entire conflict with the armed groups and with their parallel-power structures onto a broader plane, including a political one. For some representatives of the political forces participating in the government, the insurgents became people with ideals and lofty political goals. Thus, through its stance, the government affirmed them as an established reality with which one had to coexist. For a government that one month earlier took over the country's situation under conditions of an undeclared civil war, such as that of Ylli Bufi, this policy is astonishing and extremely dangerous. Albania seriously risked being divided. Unfortunately, the government showed no signs that it was fighting for the opposite. It did not insist until the end on restoring state authority throughout the country. On the contrary, under pressure from arms and force, it was conditioned and compelled to withdraw its police structures from the south. In return for this, a kind of political power was entrusted to and offered to Ylli Bufi's government. Unfortunately, it did not insist until the end, as was its duty, on restoring public order. Its one-month period proved this. Precisely for this reason, Ylli Bufi's government closed its first month without achieving any of the goals it had set for itself. Or rather, it closed one month and all the problems it had within its reach to solve appeared before it. The calm that is being talked about remains almost an illusion. State structures are still ruined in the south and weak in the north. The undeclared war, or the armed sabotage of state authority, continues. The return of the army to the south is taking place with difficulty and not through normal channels. All this demonstrates the inability of the national reconciliation government to do the best possible in governing the country.[?]

Chairman of the Democratic Party, Prof. Tritan Shehu, on President Berisha's initiative regarding Albania's new constitution I believe that President Berisha's initiative and all these political movements that have come as a result of the recent developments in our country are entirely in line with the achievement of Europe's objective; even so, from the realization of a middle Europe they are positive. This will support us in our work to build a constitution as European as possible, as democratic as possible, one that is such in all respects, with a spirit and content as the Albanian people demand. For us, all these political movements of Berisha will have this importance in their own place, it will be entirely in the realization of the constitution and for the fact that from the realization of reforming middle Europe they are positive.[?] Middle Europe are positive.[?]

On the eve of the National Council meeting The tendency to turn the National Council from an organ that should make political decisions into a judicial body is not tolerable for any Albanian. All actions undertaken to present this forum as a court session by an organ that should make political decisions are representative of the morality of that category of people who are trying to return communism and today seek to transform it into an agreement of democracy.[?]

The tendency to turn the National Council from an organ that should make political decisions into a decommunizing and judicial forum is not tolerable for any Albanian. All actions undertaken to present this forum as a court session by an organ that should make political decisions are an expression of the morality of that category of people who are trying to return communism and today seek to transform it into an agreement of democracy.

The “Bregeti” association, the mayor of Himarë and the Lukovë Commune Council are calling for It continues as soon as possible to organize order in Vlora and in the other cities that have been subjected to the so-called “Public Salvation Committees” and their armed forces, in order to renew and reestablish state control over them. The PDSH of the Saranda district addressed, on 8 April 1997, a letter to the chairman of the Albanian government, Mr. Bashkim Fino, in which it urgently asks him to intervene to restore order in Himarë and the coastal area. Mr. Fino must urgently organize the state force in the area, fight with all means and with determination to disarm those criminal groups from Vlora that have gathered in the town of Himarë, the letter says, among other things. Presenting the serious concern of the Greek minority and of the inhabitants of the region, the PDSH of the Saranda district emphasizes that in Himarë and in the coastal area a form of pure banditry is ruling by force. Mr. Prime Minister, if you continue to rely on those structures which in the south have been called the so-called salvation committees and on the armed groups that support and carry them out, you will become not only enemies of democracy but at the same time also enemies of the ethnic Greek Albanians in Himarë and the coast, the letter stresses. Our areas cannot remain for long in this suffocating and unlawful situation. According to the PDSH of Saranda, the government's restoration of public order in Himarë and its surroundings would naturally resolve many other acute problems. We call on you to openly side with the Albanian state and to create conditions for the restoration of public order in Vlora and Saranda. Only in this way will you win the trust of the citizens of these areas and become capable of solving a series of other problems that make the inhabitants of these areas worried. We appeal to you and the government to restore order in Vlora and Saranda and, through this, also state control in Himarë and the coast, the letter concludes. On 8 April 1997, signed by the chairman of the “Bregeti” Association, Kirillo Dhimo, the mayor of Himarë Vasil Bollano, and the chairman of the Lukovë Commune Council Kristo Gorani.

“The PD can give the government a strong 10,” said Mr. Kazan, if he prefers to have more indifference in the country with Prime Minister Fino and not with President Berisha.