OSCE: The money from the pyramid schemes cannot be returned The Prime Minister must give Albanians back either their money or their votes Former Austrian Chancellor Vranicki, quoted by the Enter news agency, once again confirmed Nano’s election promise to return in full the money lost in the pyramid schemes. He spoke yesterday in Vienna about this issue, saying that clear words had been spoken during six election campaigns in Albania about returning the money lost in the pyramid systems. This was about the return of...

The U.S. Congress is calling on the State Department to investigate the Albanian government of Prime Minister Nano, following serious accusations of political repression against opposition parties and organizations. U.S. Congressman James Traficant sharply criticized the Albanian government for the grave political situation it has created in Albania in just two months of governing. Meanwhile, Traficant accused the State Department of remaining silent about repeated political incidents against the opposition by Fatos Nano’s socialist administration. The previous night, during discussions in the U.S. Congress on the State Department budget bill, Traficant had succeeded in winning the agreement of the majority of the minority party that the bill should include a paragraph requiring the State Department to investigate the Albanian government in relation to its respect for human rights. As the U.S. Congress was considering the 1998 budget, Congressman Traficant engaged the chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and State, Republican Harold Rogers, in a lengthy discussion about the difficult political situation in Albania. Traficant obtained the chairman’s approval to include in the bill a paragraph requiring the State Department to investigate the socialist government of Prime Minister Nano regarding freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly for opposition parties and organizations. The paragraph obliges the State Department to report to the U.S. Congress within 180 days of the bill’s entry into force on the results of its investigation into the Albanian government. Traficant has strongly voiced his concern that there are many serious problems in Albania. He has insisted that if the State Department does not exert the proper pressure on Nano’s government, then it is up to the U.S. Congress to force the Albanian administration to abandon tensions and the suppression of the opposition. The U.S. Congress’s growing concern comes after a fierce wave of revenge and successive political incidents in Albania to the detriment of the opposition and human rights in general. The inclusion in a U.S. congressional appropriations bill of a paragraph calling for an investigation into Nano’s government expresses Washington’s growing concern as it watches the revenge campaign by former communists who came to power after elections that were only acceptable under the circumstances, against the democratic opposition. The serious political crime in the Albanian parliament, when an Enverist MP fired a gun in an attempt to physically eliminate the December leader, Azem Hajdari, deeply shocked all the Western chancelleries. This is the extreme act of a majority compromised by its collaboration with crime during the unrest, which after the elections embarked on a campaign of repression and political purges against the opposition. This bill clearly and firmly censures Fatos Nano and his government, and proves that his administration will be under the strict surveillance of the State Department, because it has shown itself to be a compromised administration from its very first steps. A.P. The Albanian Government under the strict scrutiny of the State Department. Washington concerned about the suppression of the opposition in Albania

EC: We are concerned about violence against local government Nano gathers Enverists and guardsmen at the Palace of Congresses to beat elected local officials Ceka calls for the investigation into the imprisonment of journalists to be expedited ON PAGE 2 The state, on the offensive for

Ceka provokes PD rallies Once again, Ceka’s police ambushed participants in protests by the Democratic Party. Continuing their use of violence and intimidation against PD members and supporters, on Wednesday evening the police detained 12 Democratic Party supporters. Tirana’s Police Station No. 3 detained Eduard Gjonpali, 20, Maringlen Dika, 20, Arian Jata, 23, Arjan Geci, 19, Afrim Ila, 20, Rondo Nazarko, 18, Bajram Rexhmetaj, 30, Rifat Ajdini, 34, Besnik Ajdini, Asllan Toro, 34, Nebi Progja, 30, and Artur Hoxha, 26. It would be to the credit of this police force not to become a political tool in the hands of the criminal rulers who came to power through gangs and Kalashnikovs. The PD rallies are hundreds of times more lawful than today’s government and parliament.

Ceka calls for the investigation into the imprisonment of journalists to be expedited to be expedited The state’s offensive to imprison “RD” ON PAGE 2

Terror against the capital intensifies. The “language of the law” turns into the “language of violence” More than half of Tirana was raided in the early hours of the morning, without a warrant from the prosecutor’s office, and no more than one hundred weapons were collected. The police have stated that the operation for the “mass collection” of weapons will continue... ON PAGE 4

The government is holding aid for Albania hostage The Brussels Conference, too, will impose political conditions on aid to Albania. As reported from Vienna, the Donors’ Conference will set the political conditions for financial assistance to Albania. The OSCE spokesperson stated yesterday that at the Vienna meeting, “conditionality was the main topic.” The second meeting in Rome and the Brussels meeting immediately after it follow the first Rome Conference, at which a series of conditions were set out that the Albanian Government did not fulfill. The diplomatic terms now being used to describe the failure to fulfill these conditions do not state directly that the government installed in power “did not fulfill them,” but use softer terms, such as that conditionalities will determine the financial assistance. It has now been made clear to the installed Prime Minister, and will be reiterated definitively in Brussels, that he must begin the National Reconciliation process, which was halted after he took power; respect the opposition and local government; and sever ties with the gangs that brought him to power. The Prime Minister will also have aid to Albania made conditional on donors’ distrust of his possible misappropriation of funds, for which he gave evidence in 1990–1991. SH. P.

Berisha welcomes international support for Kosovo The leader of the PDSH, Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, welcomed the joint statement by the EU and the US on the police violence inflicted yesterday by the Belgrade authorities during the peaceful student protests in Prishtina and other cities in Kosovo. This statement supports the legitimate demands of Albanian students in Kosovo, on the one hand, and condemns the violence carried out against peaceful protesters, for which the EU and the US government hold President Milosheviç and the Serbian leadership directly responsible. Mr. Berisha expresses his conviction that a joint position by the EU and the US government represents the greatest opportunity for a just resolution of the Kosovo issue.