Nursing students on the ninth day of the strike yesterday ON PAGE 5

The Prime Minister backs down temporarily. He releases the satellites ON PAGE 2

Rally of the politically persecuted in Skënderbej Square ON PAGE 2

The socialist government avoided an international investigation into the Otranto tragedy. New, shocking testimony from Vlora Albania mourns the Adriatic’s worst tragedy. In Vlora, a delegation of the DP will attend the victims’ funeral ceremony

While the victims of Otranto are being buried today in Vlora, the reasons why the Albanian government decided on a bilateral Albanian-Italian investigation instead of an international investigation remain unexplained. From the very day of the tragedy, the then President, Sali Berisha, and the Speaker of the People’s Assembly, Pjetër Arbnori, called for an independent international investigation, and suggested as much to the Albanian government, then headed by socialist Prime Minister Bashkim Fino. But that is not what happened. The government decided on a bilateral investigation, even though it knew that it lacked the specialists needed for such an investigation, and even though the other party was on the side of the ship that struck the Albanian motorboat. With astonishing speed, the victims’ relatives were politically indoctrinated, and the following day several women dressed in black demonstrated in the streets of Vlora, shouting outside Parliament as if the tragedy were not a tragedy at all, but merely an ordinary political clash, thereby drawing the tears of thousands of Albanians as they watched the tragedy unfold on television. All of Vlora knows that the boat had set sail from Zani Caushi, a close friend of socialist leaders, and Arben Malaj, Finance Minister in Fino’s government. Witnesses at the scene have also spoken of a cargo of drugs and weapons aboard the “Katrin e Radës”. The Finance Minister’s own involvement is also the key to the agreement for a bilateral investigation, as is the fact that the vessel was carrying a quantity of weapons and drugs. The final investigation and the raising of the vessel from the seabed revealed that several victims were missing from the boat. There are 26 of them, and their families have suffered a double loss. Meanwhile, nothing at all was said about the suspicious cargo; instead, it was stated that the Italian warship’s collision was not the cause of the vessel’s sinking. So far, nobody has heard the Albanian investigative side comment on this matter, and the Albanian state has made not the slightest effort to shed further light on the Otranto tragedy. In Brindizi, several weeks ago, victims’ relatives accused President Meidani and the Albanian government of inaction on this issue, while Meidani himself became the target of anger from some members of the families of those who drowned. The Otranto tragedy is the greatest tragedy for Albanians in these five centuries. Under no circumstances should its scale be diminished, either in the investigation or in the obligation owed to those who died and their families. No reason could justify what was done to the tragedy and the silence surrounding its closure. The Fino government opted for a bilateral investigation, even though this could have seriously implicated the conduct of that government or some of its individual members. In this connection, the Albanian Prime Minister, Fino, should also be held accountable for signing the agreement with the Italian side to return Albanian ships or motorboats carrying emigrants. Without this agreement, such a tragic collision by the Italian ship Sibilla would have been much more difficult. A serious government must pursue such an investigation to the end. This tells us that the government now in office finds it very difficult to do so. At the heart of the “Sibilla” collision is Fino’s agreement; he is now Deputy Prime Minister. Albanians are in mourning today. The incident would have been a little easier to bear if it had been possible to recover all the bodies. Albanians will continue to owe a debt to the victims of Otranto.

The DP Chairman, Sali Berisha, offers condolences to the families and relatives of the victims of Otranto Dear family members, friends, and relatives of the victims who lost their lives in the Strait of Otranto on the night of 27 March 1997! Today, on this day of mourning and grief for you, Vlora, Fiteri, Albania and the entire Albanian nation, I join you in this grief with my profound pain and sorrow, and pray together with you and all Albanians that the souls of ... Throughout this century, it was a national tragedy, not only for you but for all Albanians, who feel one another’s pain as their own and experience the grief of the country as their own drama. Today, all of them ... you. The Otranto catastrophe, the suffering and the struggle of your innocent people

Dear family members, friends, and relatives of the victims who lost their lives in the Strait of Otranto on the night of March 27, 1997! night of March 27, 1997! Today, on this day of mourning and sorrow for you, Vlora, Fier, Albania, and the entire Albanian nation, I join you all in my deep pain and grief, and I of your loved ones may rest in eternal peace. I also pray today that the bodies of your loved ones, which for many months remained in the dark and immense depths of the sea, may rest peacefully in their homeland, and that this may ease your pain for those whom no one can replace. You are not alone in your pain and suffering. I am convinced that Albanians, today and in the future, will feel for and remember your loved ones. The Otranto maritime disaster, the greatest we have known during this century, was a national tragedy—not only for you, but for all Albanians, who feel another person’s pain as if it were their own and experience the calamity of their country as their own drama. Today, they are all with you. The Otranto disaster, the suffering and struggle of your innocent loved ones as they faced death, the waves, the cold, the weight and depths of the sea, your grief and laments for those you no longer have—these are at once an extremely painful and powerful call to every Albanian to become more aware of our fate, not to let it be manipulated, and to know whom to trust, so that we may not suffer other great calamities in the future. With my deepest condolences, Sali Berisha Munich, 12.11.1997

The DP MP promises that the trial over the political assassination attempt, carried out in collusion, will be repeated DP MP Azem Hajdari stated once again yesterday that he does not recognize the farcical proceedings against Gafurr Mazreku. ON PAGE 4

Last night on TV, a chronicle of a crime foretold If anything happens as a result of what happened and was incited by Eduard Mazi’s television station, the Albanian prime minister bears direct responsibility. Statement against the DP, without a signature or seal Fatos Nano is preparing serious crimes against his political opponents, trying to shift responsibility away from those truly responsible for the Otranto tragedy. Eduard Mazi’s Albanian television station read yesterday a statement prepared in the government’s kitchen, warning of an attack on the delegation of the Democratic Party, which will attend the funeral ceremony for the victims of the Otranto tragedy. By putting the statements into the mouths of certain people who remember the vampire woman, and [who] ... the blood of the SHIK officer in Vlora, Fatos Nano is setting his armed gangs against the people of the Democratic Party in order to attack them. Nano and his government bear full responsibility, given that the statement hastily read yesterday by Albanian Television was unsigned and had not been signed by anyone. The Democratic Party delegation will be in Vlora today, without the involvement of Nano’s prime minister and his gangs in power. It will be there to share the profound human grief of all Albanian Democrats over the tragedy caused precisely by those who today are seeking new tragedies in Albania. Those who must answer and be judged by Vlora and all Albania for the Otranto tragedy, for the hundreds of dead, and for the great deception surrounding the first crime committed in Flag Square, are among the ranks of today’s government. Those who shared the money from their tragic deaths cannot shed tears for the Otranto victims, along with Zani and the other gangs that went to Vlora, nor can those who blocked the international investigation into the great human tragedy in the Adriatic. Fatos Nano, Bashkim Fino, Arben Malaj, and Sabit Brokaj are only some of the figures who must be forcibly shut up at the painful ceremony bidding farewell to the victims of the Otranto tragedy. The people directly and indirectly responsible for the Otranto tragedy, and their armed gangs, cannot stop the Democratic Party delegation from taking its rightful place in the grief of Vlora and all Albania. ...all Albania. If Nano intends to obstruct them with gangs, according to the scenario broadcast yesterday by Albanian Television, responsibility will lie with his installed regime. Was it merely coincidence that the government’s protocol office learned only at 20:00 at the Democratic Party headquarters that the delegation would not set out by bus, as planned, because there were no funds for fuel? At that same hour, Eduard Mazi’s television station aired threatening statements showing that everything had been prepared to prevent the DP delegation, by any means, from going to Vlora. Fatos Nano must keep the watchdogs on a leash: they start in the prime minister’s offices, continue at Tirana Television, and end up among the street thugs who make the law thanks to his power. This gang regime, which has turned the screen into a platform for hatred against the opposition, is seeking to plunge the country once again into crime and bloodshed, just as during the communist rebellion. Nano bears direct responsibility if anything happens as a result of what happened yesterday on Eduard Mazi’s television station.

The governing coalition is breaking apart from below. Rifts over meritocracy The governing coalition is breaking apart from below. Rifts over meritocracy PAD withdraws in Gjirokastër The Alliance, the statement says, opposes the atavistic and monist policies governing the administration of power ON PAGE 2

Refugees arriving from Greece continue to be robbed Hundreds of refugees testify that they are forced to pay 1,000 drachmas for every trip along the road leading to Tepelenë