The government is promoting people with criminal records ON PAGE 6

What are the reasons tying Bundo to the insurance company’s chair ON PAGE 5

During the first five months of the year ON PAGE 5

ON PAGE 3 The murder of the Deputy Prime Minister’s bodyguard ignites a clan war within the governing coalition. Ceka: “the bodyguard’s murder was a settling of scores”

By Sami NEZA It seems that once again the official factor in Tirana is putting a spoke in the wheel of NATO’s decision to bomb Serbian military installations. The Albanian Prime Minister, Fatos Nano, has decided to meet the Serbian prime minister, Kon-[?]tiç, in Switzerland, giving the international community the impression that it need not hurry more than the first man in the Albanian government. By considering or declaring itself to be a middle ground between the West and Kosovo, it seems that the evasion has now been carried even further. The Albanian factor in Tirana is not a middle ground between the West and Kosovo, but a middle ground between the Eastern option for Kosovo and Kosovo itself. For the second time in a few days, Nano is undermining NATO’s decisions, openly siding with Eastern diplomacy, and especially Russian diplomacy, which has come out against military intervention in Kosovo. A meeting of this kind with the president of N[?]TO cannot be concealed even by the friendly language the Albanian prime minister has used in his descriptions of the KLA. It seems that the further east the Albanian government’s position moves, the more its actual participation in resolving the Kosovo crisis diminishes—above all because nobody needs an Eastern factor in the middle of Tirana, when one can find a more fully formed one in Moscow, Athens, or elsewhere. In any case, Holbrooke’s latest mission in the Balkans reduces Tirana’s official authorities’ capacity for sabotage and makes it even clearer that the US and the West are the decisive forces in resolving the Kosovo problem. For the first time, yesterday Holbrooke met representatives of the KLA. The meeting was not considered political, but it can hardly be anything other than a meeting between Holbrooke and the KLA. The trajectory set out yesterday in Junik represents a new signal for the future of talks or war in Kosovo. This is not simply because Junik embodies a small republic proclaimed many years ago by the Albanians of Kosovo, but because the KLA is regarded as the driving force of Kosovo’s independence. Yet while the peaceful wing of Western politics met the Albanian military wing, the peaceful wing of the Albanians, represented by Rugova, met the military wing of the West. The difference between the meetings was more than an hour; although the point of intersection between these two meetings might be considered accidental, it cannot fail to seem natural in a country where war, negotiating tables, talks, diplomats and the dead coexist across such a small geographical area. Symbolically, Rugova’s meeting with Solana and Holbrooke’s meeting with the KLA constitute a real conclusion about the situation in Kosovo and its crisis. It would be no less [unclear] than the paths to a solution which NATO calls options, which will be reduced today, while in Kosovo it is called a stability that has begun and is recognized as such. The importance of yesterday’s meetings in Junik and Brussels, besides expressing the West’s clear position on a swift resolution of the crisis, has also announced the coordinated lobby in this effort: Holbrooke, Rugova, NATO and the KLA. This is a lobby of those setting the limits; official Tirana is not part of it. An alliance is increasingly being built against Millosheviç, one that has no difficulty acknowledging the crisis and resolving it in Kosovo’s favor. Solana himself, while asking Rugova not to begin discussions without any prior conditions, has not forgotten to state through a spokesperson that the withdrawal of Serbian troops is an obligation imposed on Millosheviç as a condition for the start of talks. Once the negotiating table has left the bombs behind, talks may begin. With the meeting Nano is to hold in Switzerland, he is only prolonging the time these bombs remain over the table of his own making, still filled with stories of a bomber [unclear] who has taken seriously neither the stopping of the war in Kosovo nor the resolution of its problem.

Today the well-known Swiss Forum begins its proceedings ON PAGE 3

MPs oppose the Nano–Kontić meeting Nano’s meeting with Serbia’s prime minister on Friday ON PAGE 3 Fax from the Socialist Party headquarters to the Shijak branch. The Socialist Party center orders local socialists to campaign for June 7

Vora’s Socialist candidate trades votes for drugs OSCE: The Albanian state must not allow such events to happen again Vora’s Socialist candidate trades votes for drugs Give me your votes so you can grow narcotic plants OSCE: The Albanian state must not allow such events to happen again ON PAGE 2

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Threats, robberies and hostages for DP supporters ON PAGE 2

A proposal to change the composition of the National Labour Council is on Nano’s desk BSPSh President Xhevdet Lubani: In such a case, we will boycott participation A proposal to change the composition of the National Labour Council is on Nano’s desk Trade unions risk losing their representation in the state BSPSh President Xhevdet Lubani: In such a case, we will boycott participation ON PAGE 5

The DP chairman highly praises Richard Holbrooke’s mission in the Balkans The chairman of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, welcomed Richard Holbrooke’s new mission in the region, his meeting with President Rugova, his visit to the war zone in Decan, as well as the meeting he held today with representative KLA commanders. The visit of Ambassador Holbrooke to Belgrade, Pristina, Skopje and Athens, DP chairman Berisha emphasizes, is another powerful effort by the United States to stop Serbian aggression and bring about a political resolution to the crisis in Kosovo. The visit also enabled Ambassador Holbrooke to verify on the ground the atrocities committed by the Serbian army in Kosovo after the start of the political process and the Rugova–Milošević talks, as well as the latter’s determination to implement in Kosovo the same scenario of destruction, atrocities and ethnic cleansing that he implemented in Bosnia. The chairman of the Democratic Party, Berisha, also welcomed Ambassador Holbrooke’s meeting with two distinguished KLA commanders in the Decan area, describing it as a very important development and an important message about the need for coordinated cooperation among all Albanian actors with the international community in the process of reaching a just solution to the Kosovo issue.

Berisha welcomes the Solana–Rugova meeting The chairman of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, said that he considers the visit of the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Rugova, to the headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Commission in Brussels, his meeting with the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Havier Solana, and his meeting with the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hans Van Den Brook, to be historic. This visit and the talks in Brussels are evidence of the determination of the most powerful Western institutions to support President Rugova and a political solution to the Kosovo issue, as well as an expression of these institutions’ readiness to stop Millosheviç’s atrocities in Kosovo. Berisha expressed his conviction that this visit demonstrates the Alliance’s great interest in a swift resolution of the Kosovo problem, which represents a region whose peace is of interest to Europe and beyond.

REUTERS

- Spain–Bulgaria 6:1. A goal fest for the World Cup “lamtumina” - Nigeria–Paraguay 1:3. Africa “sets Europe on fire” - France–Denmark 2:1. The defeat qualifies the Nordic side - South Africa–Saudi Arabia 2:2. A pointless draw - Just 173 minutes away from a new record. The Germans console themselves with Lothar Mateus - Talented young winners. The ten most outstanding footballers at the World Cup - Rivaldo, a life spent striving to become number one - The leader for Argentina’s team, an idol for the fans. Batistuta, or an athlete’s moment of happiness - Groups E and F. Who will qualify? Analysis - Cameroonians blame the whites for their disqualification. “Boycott” FIFA; it is the World Cup’s disgrace - Bookmakers change the betting odds. Nigeria rises sharply SPECIAL FEATURE ON PAGES 10–11