The government’s smuggling has no one to stop it ON PAGE 4

Nighttime searches without court orders or prosecutors’ authorization ON PAGE 4

The Vlora dossier Radio BBC fueled the crime ON PAGE 4

The second destruction of the Albanian Army. After the army depots were wrecked, the Clique strikes at the command structures The dismissed generals are all military figures, educated in the West, while the Clique’s favorites, mostly fanatical and ignorant Enverists, are managers of pyramid-scheme companies who made a concrete contribution during the communist rebellion to the destruction of the Army Nano: “No Albanian in Italy”

: A wedge between the West and the government Nano cannot dispel the disinformation concocted in the ideological laboratories that have taken over the Presidency, the Prime Minister’s Office and Albanian Television. For three days, false reports have been ringing out in the state media, and all manner of stories—from the most crude to the most elaborate—have been arriving in Albanian newspaper newsrooms by fax from the Presidency and the Prime Minister’s Office. The day before yesterday, a letter from Austrian President Klesli was “refuted,” and this was done only four days after the message had reached the offices of the country’s head of state. The refutation was itself a form of disinformation and was entirely untrue. Our editorial office obtained all the information that once again confirms Klesli’s letter exactly as published in our newspaper, retaining throughout its text the same tone it had four days earlier. The editorial office argues that Klesli had no especially harsh words for the Albanian communists, and that his letter was not manipulated in any way. The opposite is happening in the upper echelons of the press in Albania. It is there that telegrams are ground out in Nano’s and Mejdani’s tones, and then presented as though they had been uttered by some President, Prime Minister, or prominent leader of an international organization. The same thing was attempted with the meeting Nano had requested with Sant-er. Albanian Television read out what had been written in Tirana and what had been said at their meeting. Even ATSH mistakenly carried a Reuters report that was completely different from the report issued by the agency itself and added to its bulletin a few hours later. Meanwhile, TVSH, the most brazen part of the Balkan media, spoke at length about an agreement sought by Prodi, but nowhere mentioned what might happen if Nano failed to honor the agreements. Nor did it quote the most pointed parts of Prodi’s remarks, in which he admonished Nano for Albanian policy’s lack of correctness toward its neighbors, namely Italy. We know that Mazi, the director of TVSH, is not in a position to do more than he has been instructed to do. He has no other capabilities, professional or intellectual, to rise even slightly above Daut Gumenja, Mentor Nazarko, Preç Zogaj or Frrrok Çupi. Nor can he understand that the reports written for him and sent from offices in Tirana leave the right-wing press in an old fog, along with all the press institutions in Europe. Unlike Mazi—and unlike the abilities of journalists such as Frrrok Çupi—this press can read passages of the remarks, even if not all of them, in German too. The only harm done is that, whenever people are lied to about the writing of letters and subscriptions, Albanian readers lose a little more time before learning the truth about the evidence of responsibility installed here and how it is confronted by the international community. The electronic media and public officials associated with this kind of media tried for a long time to find a reason for the postponement of the Donors’ Conference in Rome as well. They kept imagining that people in the city would not understand the reasons, which were scattered across many facts and presented without coherence. In his detailed remarks, Van der Brook once again emphasized that this conference had been postponed for a later date. Do they understand, if they have not figured it out, that the meeting has been postponed from the 15th to the 15th? … The failure and inability of the Albanian media to understand and present…

The DP expresses regret over the postponement of the Rome Conference. From its headquarters, it again signals its willingness to contribute to meeting the conditions set in Rome The Democratic Party expressed its regret last night over the postponement of the deadline for the Conference of Foreign Ministers in Rome, which would have opened the way for the Donors’ Conference on assistance from the international community to Albania. The party’s spokesperson stressed that the reasons for this postponement were the positions taken on the people’s course, rather than that of the government, further worsening the country’s political and economic situation. The DP spokesperson also expressed regret over the interpretations given by the left-wing government press to his statements and those of the party’s leaders, saying that the Democratic Party supports the non-distribution of aid. In fact, in all the statements made for postponement of the Rome Conference of Foreign Ministers, which was to give the green light to the Donors’ Conference for international community aid to Albania. The party’s spokesperson emphasized by the current government and its “mashtrorancës” regarding the National Reconciliation process, the repeal of laws, and the reprisals undertaken against Albanian institutions and the administration. Since the first Rome Conference, the Democratic Party has advocated fulfilling the conditions it set for the government and the Albanian political class, but the “mashtroranca” refused to cooperate with the DP on this matter. The consequences of postponing this Conference will fall on the people, not the government officials, spokesperson also expressed regret over the interpretations in the left-wing government press of his statements and those of the party’s leaders, which portrayed the Democratic Party as opposing the arrival of aid. In fact, in all statements made on this issue, the position has been clearly expressed that the scheduling of international aid, which is essential for the country, should be postponed, and that the government and its policies toward the situation in the country are largely to blame. The Democratic Party has once again expressed its readiness to contribute to fulfilling the conditions of the Rome Conference, without which aid cannot come to Albania.

The West cannot take risks in a country where the National Reconciliation process is revenge and the dismantling of 15 years of post-communist progress by the installed government and its servants Donors’ Conference: The meeting date has still not been set ON PAGE 3

Tomorrow, Mother Teresa’s funeral ceremony The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, arrives today in Calcutta, India, where he will attend the funeral ceremony of the great saint Mother Teresa. The Democratic Party spokesperson said Berisha is traveling to Calcutta via the Rome-Bucharest-Calcutta route of the Italian airline Alitalia. His route was diverted in Rome because the Alitalia plane on which Berisha was to travel was changed at the last moment from a commercial flight to a state flight for the needs of the Italian government. Passengers who were not included on the Italian government’s lists were accommodated by Alitalia on other routes, with the airline apologizing to them. Yesterday, television broadcast speculative news about nonexistent problems with the Democratic Party leader’s journey to India. Berisha arrives today in Calcutta, India, as the first representative from Albania to attend the funeral ceremony of Mother Teresa, a symbol of goodness and peace. Tomorrow, a piece of the best of the world and of peace is laid to rest, among the best-known saints of our time. ON PAGE 3

Albania is threatened by inflation of 95–100%. Price increases will not be offset by increases in income. Small and medium-sized businesses are coming to an end, and unemployment is knocking at the door as a result. If bread costs 60 lekë today, tomorrow it will cost 120 lekë. This is because a customs duty is imposed on flour and wheat, 20 percent VAT is added at the first point of sale, and then as it passes to the second point—the retailer—and subsequently to the third—the baker—the price rises gradually, while consumers in reality pay the VAT charged at all three of the above stages, plus the retailer’s profit. ON PAGE 5

PR Secretary-General Mingomataj announces his resignation PR Secretary-General Mingomataj told “RD” yesterday that he had resigned from his position in the party as a result of disagreements with Chairman Godo, whom he accused of being the most sophisticated structure of the Communist Party in pluralist life, with the political mission of splitting the Right. The Republicans’ number two recalls Godo’s frequent meetings with Nano and Majko. ON PAGE 3

Durrës. Returned Albanian refugees disembarking from the ferry

ON PAGE 3