The historic March 9 Agreement was the fruit of the round table of ten political parties convened by the head of state at one of the most difficult moments the country was going through. The political responsibility of the PD and the other parties to stop the catastrophe before it reached the brink of civil war, in which the Albanian people and nation themselves would have been the losers, led to an understanding and an agreement with the President on a Government of National Reconciliation. This Government was given the exceedingly heavy burden of normalizing the situation and preparing the normal infrastructure for implementing the nine points of the agreement and holding new elections. As a signatory to the March 9 Agreement, the Democratic Party has supported, and continues to support, the Government of National Reconciliation so that it can achieve the objectives for which it was formed. But when this government, particular sections of it, or Prime Minister Fino himself fail to abide by the nine points of the agreement—for example, by refusing to recognize the rebels’ military committees, whether in the south or the north—the Democratic Party has the right, under the rules, to criticize it and demand an accounting. At the same time, it also has the right to remind it that it has an obligatory duty to cooperate in restoring order and on every other matter concerning its work solely with the legitimate central institutions and with local government bodies elected by the people’s direct vote. We would tell Mr. Fino that before going to Shkodër, where local government is functioning and there is no rebel military headquarters, he should refuse to meet and negotiate with the rebels of Vlorë, Gjirokastër and Tepelenë, who, with the muzzles of their Kalashnikovs, dance around and keep the lawful elected representatives and the people of these cities under terror. I say, Mr. Fino, if you consider yourself a member of the PS, tell the leaders of this party not to sign agreements with the rebels that run counter to the March 9 Agreement, but to put the devil back in the bottle from which they themselves let it out. The Government of National Reconciliation is not “Fino’s Government,” or the “Socialist Prime Minister’s” government, as the PS propagandizes. It is a government without political color. Although the Democratic Party holds fifty percent of the ministerial portfolios, it regards it as a Government of the March 9 Agreement, serving Albania. For the PD, this Government’s mission is to restore order, get local government functioning again, organize and administer the aid that will arrive effectively, and prepare the situation for elections so that they are peaceful and fair. The Socialist Party would do extremely useful work for the Government of National Reconciliation, and all the more for Prime Minister Fino, if it did not involve him in political activity and in a campaign for narrowly partisan purposes, and if it did not appropriate and advertise the Government’s achievements as the PS’s own. Likewise, Mr. Fino must understand that from the moment he received the mandate of prime minister of a Government of National Reconciliation, he no longer belongs to his party, until he has fulfilled his duty, but serves an extremely valuable mission: implementing the nine points of the March 9 Agreement. It is essential that all parties, today and tomorrow, think and work for Albania. If the PS and its allies continue to pour gasoline on the fire they themselves lit, by bypassing the main pillars underpinning the March 9 Agreement and the Government formed under it—the institution of the President, the People’s Assembly, or the Democratic Party—they will do nothing but undermine the work of the Government of National Reconciliation, undermine its mission, and push ever further away the moment when the country can emerge from the bottom of the abyss of the crisis we have been experiencing for more than three months.

Following the Italian Parliament’s approval of sending military forces to Albania during this difficult period to support the humanitarian aid of the European Community, the chairman of the PDSH, Mr. Tritan Shehu, sent a letter of thanks to each of the Italian political forces that supported this initiative in the Italian Parliament. Through them, Mr. Shehu thanked the Italian Parliament, Government and people for the assistance they gave Albania in these extremely difficult times, agreeing that Italy should take command of these forces.

Page 3 Mr. Berisha needs no political defense, given that his activity is

The motion was approved with 503 votes out of a possible 595, while 85 MPs voted against and 7 abstained Page 4 Military general staffs meet for Operation “Alba” Italian forces, over the next 48 hours

Of course, Mr. Berisha needs no political defense, since his activity is open and appreciated both in the country and abroad. He himself surely reflects on both the successes and the shortcomings attributed to the PD government. But, at the same time, even his most ardent political opponent cannot deny that Berisha’s role as a politician has been indisputable over these six years, during which Albania set out from almost zero on the path to democracy. Now, after six years, it was Berisha himself, with his stoicism and determination, together with the most vital part of the PD (and not the most faint-hearted, who scattered like pseudo-dissidents and lounge around, their faces reddened, in Tirana’s cafés), who ensured that this country did not get stuck at zero or, worse, fall into the much-discussed civil war. Time will shed even more light on certain truths. Because he had pinpointed it—when there was no anonymous writer and in “Zëri i Popullit”—when he said: “It seems that this new split among a group of Democratic Party MPs is also a split with defeat.” It could hardly be put more accurately; the only thing the anonymous analyst does not say is why this will happen. And he does not say it because the leadership of his own party turns a deaf ear.

Comrade Qose: Even the old communists of Tirana, who on these sunny days go out, have a coffee and glance through “ZP,” were left pleasantly surprised when they read Comrade Qose’s article, as they call him. “My, this Qosja really is causing us a lot of trouble. How can he demand the resignation of the Albanian head of state and never once demand the resignation of Slobodan Milošević, who is publicly regarded as the great enemy of the Albanians, who destroyed all their human and national rights, and who bombarded Kosovo with the bones of Albanians?” Every honest person asks how it is possible that this Albanian so insistently and readily demands the destruction of the Albanian state. We should place our hopes in resolving the Albanian question in the Balkans. ...And erase from your mind that Albanians need light.

Interview with the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Mr. Myqerem Tafaj Interview with the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Mr. Myqerem Tafaj University students will resume their studies, but .... When it comes to school, there is only one starting date Page 5

? Analysts think not at all. In fact, the senior leadership of the PS has tried to [a national scandal?], which disrupts reconciliation, [and says] that it was staged by certain factions, etc., etc. Analysts say that the citizens’ call, “You have shed enough blood in Vlora,” addressed to the motorcade of the socialist prime minister Fino, should have been understood to mean: “We do not wish to shed Albanian blood again in Shkodër, or anywhere else in Albania.”

On the outskirts, far from libraries and closer to bullets Page 5

On Sunday, 13 April 1997, at 11:00, a meeting of the National Council of the PDSH will be held in the meeting hall of the Palace of Congresses to analyze the situation in the country and the measures that need to be taken. Members of the National Council and MPs are invited.

A heartfelt and deeply concerned appeal from the diaspora: Page 3