The killer of the guardsmen welcomed Meidani during the election campaign. The people of Cërrik ask the President and Ceka to save them from the terror of criminals. A shocking letter from Cërrik to the President and the Minister of the Interior. “Save us from the gangs. We know the perpetrators of the massacre. Sokol Buzani fired an anti-tank weapon at the guardsmen.”

. The most complete forms of servility toward the government have begun to emerge. Naturally, this is not about groups coming directly from the Socialist Party or people politically connected to this government. There is no need for sycophants to be recruited from these groups, whose servility does not serve any purpose. Servility is being cultivated in other corners of Albanian society. Two days ago, President Meidani himself received the blessing of government associations, which said they would never disturb this government’s peace and quiet. The agents bowed before those in power so low that the President himself was forced to say words that, in the most natural circumstances, should have been spoken by human-rights NGOs. This delegation has protested against the Democratic Party government; it was not at all sycophantic and, contrary to its mandate, did everything possible to [unclear]. When the police in Vlora, [unclear] from their office, [unclear] dared to issue statements from their offices against the use of violence by the police against people. Even when policemen were killed, they did not say a word about them. This delegation bears an undeniable share of responsibility for encouraging the gangs that have so far killed and abused hundreds of people. While right-wing anti-democrats in the press may have been horrified opposition figures, today they have devised schemes to protect people in power; indeed, they have placed themselves at the service of particular gangs. Yesterday, a newspaper that had served the terrorism in Vlora and other southern cities claimed that the [unclear] forces in Albania were being badly [unclear] by the political group preparing to hold the protest. Their commission—or my mistake in taking them seriously—amounts to nothing more than the extreme servility of the press toward its government. The author of the article should first learn that it was Berisha who asked for a European Union force, and the only Albanian politician who opposed their arrival was the head of this article’s author, Fatos Nano. In fact, at a press conference two days before the elections, he said that if he were invited, he would drive them out of Albania. Perhaps the author did not understand what Nano said in English. These days, the cabinet’s leading journalists have also been exposed. In a major newspaper, someone was promoted to the top position of a director as if she were a sweetheart who had been involved in [unclear], orders and decisions so numerous they were enough to [unclear]. Meanwhile, a leader of a right-wing party, who in these months before the elections even went straight to government offices and presented a parliamentary proposal that should have been negotiated with the new government, [unclear]. The government, despite this, was too early [unclear] to call this servility outright. President [unclear] and Prime Minister Kurt Kola’s call to build the aforementioned conformist machinery is another insult this government directs at the victims and the collective memory of the dictatorship. You cannot even make political prisoners follow Kurt and his secretary, but that is not important; Kurt himself is not important either. What matters is the message and the ability to build around servility. All this is the necessary infrastructure that, under a right-wing government, is rejected at least by part of the public, which could become an opposition to it. In this case, the main blame does not lie so much with the government, which the DP is preparing to turn into such an anti-democratic [unclear], but with these people who have put their public will at the service of a government that least deserves such a thing. This group, which moves in parallel with those in power, has been positioned as the first opposition to real opposition in Albania.

Fatos Klosi once again violates election procedures. The CEC deputy chairman, a seal maniac ON PAGE 3

The illegitimate start of the changes blocks the activity of the Governing Council

Details on the cigarette smuggling in Qafë Thanë. The Nano government is at its head Cigarette smuggling has also been taking place freely for more than a month at Velipojë beach, where every weekend a Greek ship unloads thousands of cartons of cigarettes onto trucks, which are smuggled toward Montenegro. Deputy Prime Minister Bashkim Fino and other leaders of the Socialist Party have been named as its organizers. ON PAGE 4

A group of loyalists rises to the leadership of the Socialists The Socialist chairman, Fatos Nano, further consolidated his position within the Socialist Party yesterday by appointing to senior leadership posts people known for their loyalty to him. Majko, already proven to be Nano’s blind tool, took the senior post of Secretary General, while Ujqlini, chairman of the Tirana Socialists, took the position of secretary for public relations. It is thought to be a reward from Nano for his successful execution of the purge at Radiotelevizioni. Nano’s selection of names who have proven themselves “obedient” to his authoritarianism in the SP, while leaving out Petro Koçi, the local chairman of the Socialists in Fier, from the important post of organizational secretary. Even without being secretary, Koçi managed, during the second phase of the SP congress, to help Kastriot Islami and Zabit Brokaj extraordinarily in organizing and carrying out the usurpation of the party by a veteran communist clan. Nano strengthened and secured his position in the party, especially for the period when he will have to deal with the government, by bringing people close to his clan into the leadership yesterday, such as Fino, Majl, Rama and Zela. Purely for show, or as part of certain temporary compromises, the leader of the Eurosocialists, Ilir Meta, was accepted into this leadership, which he had abandoned several months earlier.

The Albanian Journalists’ Association protests the illegal dismissal of the Director General of RTSH The Albanian Journalists’ Association strongly condemns the legal procedure through which the two chief executives of state radio and television were replaced, as well as the political action that prompted this illegal move. The Journalists’ Association notes with deep concern that Mr Bardhyl Pollo, Director General of Radiotelevizioni, has been supplanted in his post without yet having been dismissed. According to the law on the status of radio and television, adopted by the Parliament dominated by former communists in 1991, the Director of Radiotelevizioni cannot be dismissed by the Governing Council. The way he is being treated is unlawful and sets a dangerous precedent for the independence of Albanian radio and television and public oversight of it. The Socialist Party has violated all legal procedures by bringing ten new members onto the Governing Council and, through them, carrying out an illegal operation to replace the Director General. Mr Albert Minga, a former director at state television, is currently an illegitimate executive, since he cannot hold a post parallel to that of Mr Pollo, whose circumstances for dismissal are specified in the legal statute of Radiotelevizioni. The fact that the Governing Council has the right to elect a new executive does not mean it has the right to dismiss the previous director. The independence of the head of state radio and television, guaranteed by the law in force, has been seriously undermined by the attempt to install party militants appointed to the Governing Council alongside the existing executives. The Albanian Journalists’ Association calls on the Albanian Parliament, the President of the Republic, the International Federation of Journalists, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and all international institutions concerned with the development of democracy in Albania to take into account the danger facing Albanian society from violations of the laws in force and the spirit of revenge being encouraged by the new administration of the Albanian left.

Rexhep Mejdani beside Enver Hoxha at the entrance to Cërrik during the election campaign

“Partners” break into the customs office and Elbasan police station ON PAGE 4

Transparency blocks the lawsuits of those who were defrauded ON PAGE 4

On Monday, 11 August 1997, at 11:00, the meeting of the National Council of the Democratic Party will be held in the hall of the Palace of Congresses in Tirana. The agenda will be: - the political situation in the country; and - the position of the DPA toward Parliament

The legitimate start of the changes blocks the activity of the Governing Council The legitimate Council Gjinushi, the leader of the coup at RTSH ON PAGE 3 The illegitimate start of the changes blocks the activity of the Governing Council

The RTV Governing Council threatens Nano and the government

A meeting of the FRPD National Council discusses the situation after the elections ON PAGE 3

Program of the Policy of Condominium, the Disruption of Equilibriums and the Creation of Tensions Focusing or concentrating relations with only two states, even though they are very important and our neighbours, gives you the bitter impression of a condominium policy against which we Albanians have historically fought ON PAGE 2