The trial of socialist attacker Mazreku postponed again ON PAGE 4

The bodies recovered will be returned to Albania tomorrow ON PAGE 4

Albanian lawyers to protest soon ON PAGE 4

Aid to Albania should be conditional on respect for the freedoms of the opposition. Toulouse dismisses Crete: “It was a delusion”

Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano appeared on state television on Saturday alongside four of his cabinet ministers, in a government monologue presented as a debate on the first 100 days in office of the former communists, who came to power after the violent elections of 29 June. Only the leaders of the installed regime, which is establishing a new socialist dictatorship in Albania, can explain what kind of debate could be expected from the head of government appearing on the small screen with four of his subordinates. In the company of Nano-Mazi, the television’s head of information, the prime minister and his four ministers “debated” at length the great successes of their government during its first 100 days. The television farce featuring half the government patting itself on the back for the darkest 100 days Albanians have experienced since the establishment of pluralism in Albania made people more aware of the deep crisis into which Fatos Nano’s government has plunged the country. They felt insulted, if only because a clear monologue by Albanian government officials was served up to them as a debate. But they felt even more insulted because their multiplied problems and hardships were not only concealed, but presented as the new socialist paradise in Albania. The fact that crime is rampant in our city streets, or that people are being squeezed ever harder every day by taxes and drastic price increases, was also ignored. Perhaps Fatos Nano’s television appearance to “celebrate” the first 100 days of his government, together with four of his subordinates, stands in stark contrast to what Albanians were accustomed to seeing during the Democratic Party’s time in government. Not much time has passed for people to forget Berisha’s press conferences, at which every 100 days he would face journalists and give Albanians a fully transparent account. In these exchanges between the head of state and the Albanian press, people learned far more about what had happened during the 100 days of government than they did from dry government communiqués. By puffing himself up like a popcorn kernel in the face of poverty, Fatos Nano showed great indifference toward the Albanians and presented the Albanian government on the very screen that supports him. This only further underscored that he has avoided debate at all costs because of his government’s major failures. Saturday’s television farce highlighted the government’s huge steps backward in a country where the former communists came to power with the help of armed gangs. By appearing alone on television, Nano reminded Albanians that he is willing to avoid confronting the Albanian press at any cost. The press could expose him, just as the public is informed every day through newspaper pages filled with stories of smuggling, state violence, political purges and the failed diplomacy of official Tirana. Nano appeared alone because he could not find four of his government’s puppets to join him in a debate and convince Albanians that his first 100 days in office had been good, while he has left the government in a state of near panic. The only merit of Saturday’s government monologue is that it was made with great difficulty, having been put on screen as a monologue that Nano’s people had set up with their own citizens.

Powerful protests in “Skenderbej” Square

Nano presents Parliament with 100 days that have left one million Albanians poor ON PAGE 3

GJIROKASTËR — A group of students at Gjirokastër’s industrial secondary school began a hunger strike yesterday to demand that minimum living conditions be provided. In a petition addressed to the municipality and the Education Directorate, the students ask for the most basic living conditions in their dormitory: sheets, blankets and breakfast. At present, all the students living in the dormitory are housed several kilometers from the school and are forced to eat in the student dining halls. The education authorities have yet to respond to the hunger strike.

A joint initiative brings together publishers of the leading newspapers If the government continues to disregard the press’s urgent demands, the leading newspapers may launch an indefinite general strike. Publishers and managers of Albania’s leading newspapers will meet today to discuss the acute problems facing newspapers and to find ways out of the crisis into which the country’s press is gradually sinking. High taxes, distribution difficulties, the advertising boycott of the independent press, and strained relations with the government are expected to be at the center of today’s meeting, which will take place this morning at the offices of “Gazeta Shqiptare.” This is not the first time the heads of the country’s leading newspapers have gathered to share their growing concern about the survival of the Albanian press. Their repeated demands have so far fallen on deaf ears; indeed, in some cases they have been met with openly cynical statements by Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano. At tomorrow’s meeting, the press is expected to set aside the disputes that divide it and focus the government’s attention on the enormous and acute problems facing newspapers. On several occasions, the heads of the country’s most important newspapers have warned that they would strike if their demands were ignored, as they have been to date. There is a strong possibility that the entire Albanian press will join an indefinite general strike.

Today, the Socialist Party Steering Committee meets: factions raise their heads ON PAGE 3

The “politics” of a show ON PAGE 3

Nano attacked in Parliament over deals with Millosheviç ON PAGE 3

Toulouse: Full support for the Democratic Party. Berisha and Pollo meet with leaders of the European right