RD FREE The plan for the assault on Tirana Tepelena’s Black File (6) SPECIAL ON PAGE 8 - Who organised the Përmet massacre? The role of Çeka and Gjinushi. - Why did Ramiz Alia go to Tepelena? What did he do in Luzat? - What was the background to the “revolution” - The war headquarters was housed in Bënça prison - What tasks did the committee assign to the “revolutionary” mourners

The number of arrivals from the western villages of Kosovo is increasing. Hundreds of Albanians from across the border are being sheltered in Tropojë, Kukës and Has

Albania, the drug route from East to West. Albanian traffickers rule the Balkans Teta said that Albanian trafficking networks are extremely difficult to infiltrate, because they are organised along military lines and their communications equipment is highly sophisticated ON PAGE 3

The Albanian government remains within the bounds of humanitarian care. Thousands of Tirana residents are collecting the first aid for their brothers and sisters expelled from Kosovo ON PAGE 2

Berisha: “Union for Democracy” will defeat the Alliance for Smuggling Pollo: The government must call in election observers ON PAGE 3

Albetroli heading for bankruptcy. Government smuggling earns 4 million dollars every month ON PAGE 3

After the reformist coalition’s victory in Montenegro The victory of your coalition in the general elections is a victory for the progressive aspirations of Montenegrins, Albanians, Muslims and all those who live in the Republic of Montenegro for peace, prosperity and democracy. It also marks a deserved response by the voters of Montenegro to the centralist and backward-looking efforts of those seeking to deny them their rightful rights. In expressing my very best wishes on this victory, I am convinced that relations between the democratic forces in Montenegro and Albania will lead to closer cooperation between our two countries in the future. Chairman of the Democratic Party of Albania SALI BERISHA Tirana, 02.06.1998

Delegates do not recognise the results of the rigged elections Here is the list of branches that do not recognise the Congress Tirana, Elbasan, Durrës, Kukës, Tropojë, Has, Burrel, Pogradec, Korçë, Librazhd, Kolonjë, Lushnja, Tepelena, Gjirokastra, Saranda, Delvina, Mallakastra. In addition, half the delegates of the Shkodër, Kavajë, Shijak and Vlorë branches do not recognise SHIK’s Congress. The Diaspora branches that took part in the Congress do not recognise the rigged Congress: the New York, New Jersey, Detroit and Chicago branches, the Canada branch, the Switzerland branch and the Germany branch. ON PAGE 2

Berisha meets with the representative of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems The Chairman of the DP, Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, received Mr Daniel Blefington, representative of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and Director of the project commissioned by the US government to study the Permanent Election Commission. Mr Berisha praised the contribution and role of Mr Blefington and the institutions he represents in the past elections, as well as their fruitful cooperation in the current electoral process, and especially his necessary interventions to correct and improve this process. Mr Blefington, noting the effective cooperation with opposition representatives on the Election Commission, stressed the importance of having a permanent Election Commission that would ensure a regular, impartial and independent electoral process. He asked Mr Berisha for his intervention and approval to sign, together with President Mejdanit, an agreement to establish a permanent and independent election-monitoring institution, as a necessity for the electoral process in a democratic country. Mr Berisha fully endorsed the importance of an independent and permanent Election Commission and stressed that, precisely on the basis of genuine institutional oversight through the OSCE, an independent electoral body had been established at the request of the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the parliamentary political forces, after the 26 May elections, with the full consensus of all political forces. The Permanent Election Commission members, rotating among all political forces, were to provide the institutional representation of the elections. The permanent members of the Election Commission were to rotate their representation in accordance with the parties’ results in local elections, results that normally encompass a broader political spectrum. But the Permanent Election Commission was dismantled by the government, and the governing coalition was denied its place, as it had previously been by the government coalition. Mr Berisha said that he was determined to cooperate and to work for credibility, for cooperation among the institutions involved in establishing electoral institutions and in building Albania. At the meeting, the participants undertook to continue their cooperation and efforts for an impartial and fair electoral process and for the establishment of a Permanent Election Commission.

The Governor orders bank interest rates to be lowered Inflation has still shown no improvement. Bank depositors are at risk ON PAGE 4

Over these past three days, children, women and elderly people from Kosovo have been coming here; they have left their villages, taking with them the negotiating table that had been set up in Belgrade and the talks in Prishtina. In these three days, the prospect of peace has receded so far that it is almost impossible to regard Friday’s table as the plan envisaged only a few days ago. Nothing remains on that table of dialogue except the consequences of the Serbian genocide against desperate and defenceless Albanians, unprotected both by the negotiating table and by a peaceful solution. Hundreds of residents of western Kosovo’s villages have left their homes. There have also been deaths along the way, while thousands more may arrive at any moment. In any case, both their patience and their efforts have been exhausted to such an extent that they are forced to return, as in 1913, to their native land, though they have no place to return to. Those who come to Albania come with half a heart, firstly because they know that Albania offers no facilities at all for people in need, and secondly because for some time they have not felt the proper welcome for these thousands fleeing the uprising, nor from the city of Tirana; meanwhile, there are other reasons that stand in everyone’s way. Therefore, everyone may end up placing Albania clearly at peace. In Prishtina there are the great peace advocates, who have still not received the attention they declared they would give to their responsibility to protect the Albanians. This situation will continue while neither Tirana nor Prishtina declares that it will protect its citizens and its people. Over these past three days, children, women and elderly people from Kosovo have been coming here; they have left their villages, taking with them the negotiating table that had been set up in Belgrade and the talks in Prishtina. In these three days, the prospect of peace has receded so far that it is almost impossible to regard Friday’s table as the plan envisaged only a few days ago. Nothing remains on that table of dialogue except the consequences of the Serbian genocide against desperate and defenceless Albanians, unprotected both by the negotiating table and by a peaceful solution. It seems the Albanian government is facing war; hope, homes, gardens, fields, villages and roads cannot stop the medieval phalanxes of the Serbian army. Resistance by the Serbs alone, whether in a village or among young people, as a village or a group of villages, by patriots or by those resolved to stand together, does not guarantee lasting peace for the enemy. The most effective defence, especially when faced with violence on a larger scale and of a particular kind, must encompass politics, military force, mobilisation and resistance. A defence that must not stop at Tropojë or Ponoshec, but must be understood in the same way in Tirana, Saranda, Prizren or Drenica. The UÇK, having emerged as a military force, must also have its own support. It cannot remain merely a symbol of others’ willingness to contribute to the country and to themselves, but must be a reality encompassing national defence. When people have been displaced from their homes, walk for dozens of hours on foot and are pursued by the Serbs, it means that they are walking with death at their heels. So this is not a matter of a single operation or a Serbian military procession, nor of a punitive operation, but of ethnic cleansing whose aim also includes the physical elimination of everyone. The official authorities in Tirana have surely thought once again over these past three days about deploying troops on the border with Kosovo. They may have considered it even more than when they first requested that they be brought to Albania. But they have not considered at all what might happen if NATO does not send troops. This is clear even from the simple fact that supplies are running out in Tropojë and in the other villages. Let alone whether they can last much longer, until the moment when NATO troops are neither in Kosovo nor in Albania, when ethnic cleansing continues, when the Serbian army carries out the annihilation of the people in all the villages of western Kosovo, and when the artificial construction of an Albanian enclave from Deçan to Podujevë is sacrificed. The Albanian government and the political leadership in Prishtina must consider that over the past three days the Serbs have managed to drive Albanians from their homes in villages of strategic importance to the Albanian nation. The Serbs have attacked the points of physical connection between Albanians—something they were unable to do in ’93, ’45, ’68, ’81 or ’89. They are now attacking the territorial continuity of the Albanians, naturally seeking to strike hard at the Albanian volunteers and at the thousands of Albanians of today, aligned and national. Sami NEZA

Year VIII of publication No. 1025 (1946) WEDNESDAY 3 June 1998 Price: 20 lekë 1,000 lire 250 drachmas

The parties of the “Union for Democracy” invite all Albanian political forces and Albanians to attend a working meeting on Thursday, 04.06.1998, at 12:00, at the Tirana International Hotel, to discuss the extremely grave situation in Kosovo, in keeping with our shared motto: “One nation, one position”. Secretary for Public Relations of the DPA Vili MINAROLLI