ON PAGE 3 The neocommunists bring back 1946, when the Americans and British left Albania. Albania is more at risk than it was in March last year The United States closed the doors of its embassy in Tirana yesterday, while also warning all American citizens to leave Albania. The departure of American diplomats from Albania is an ominous signal showing that the future of this country is seriously at risk, even much more so than in March last year. The Americans, who have helped in every way to establish democracy in Albania and have always shown special interest in Tirana, have been forced to leave a country that has long fallen into the lap of government terrorism and the Nano government’s agreements with regimes opposed to Washington. The United States of America was forced to leave Tirana because of the dirty games played by the State Security service, restored in the SHIK, and by the anti-Albanian and anti-American secret services of neighboring countries. A few weeks ago, the Americans felt betrayed by Fatos Nano’s secret service during one of the operations against fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. A short time later, two U.S. embassies in Africa were targeted, and the bomb blasts killed and wounded thousands of people, including many Americans. The ease with which Fatos Nano’s security services sold out the Americans was so blatant that news of the terrorists’ arrest had been included in every news bulletin on the world’s most important channels before the detainees had even arrived in Egypt. Meanwhile, when the disaster at the American embassies in Africa—which has shaken the whole world—occurred, one of the first theories was that it was a reprisal by Jihad for the arrest of fundamentalists in Albania. But as if this grave incident were not enough, the State Department officially announced yesterday the temporary closure of the American embassy in Tirana, citing the danger in Albania of an incident similar to what happened in Africa. This firm and cold decision, telling all American citizens not to approach Albania and to leave it, is extremely dramatic, because the Americans have not left even those African countries where they have been attacked with bombs and many of their citizens have been killed. Likewise, they did not leave or suspend their diplomatic activities even during the darkest days of last year, when machine guns were fired near their building. The Americans have abandoned Tirana, forced to do so by the agreements and the despicable cooperation of the restored State Security service with the secret services of Milošević and other anti-American regimes around the world. Belgrade was more interested than anyone else in the Americans leaving Albania, precisely at this most dramatic time for the fate of all Albanians. It activated all the same channels with the Albanian secret service from the dictatorship era to contribute to the Americans’ departure from Albania, one of the gravest events for Albanians since the Second World War. In fact, Nano’s neocommunist regime is repeating the history dating back to 1946, when the Americans and British left Albania and the country fell under the continent’s harshest dictatorship. The analogy is frightening if we recall that in such a short time Nano’s government is trying to restore all the means and methods that their communist predecessors under Enver Hoxha used to stay in power. But, although it is entirely clear that forcing the Americans to abandon Tirana is the work of this government and its ties with terrorist circles in the Balkans, the possibility cannot be ruled out that other links the State Security service once had with Islamic fundamentalists may have been reactivated, since it is known that some terrorist groups trained in Albania at that time. In any case, this is a heavy blow to all Albanians, wherever they may be, and responsibility will fall on Fatos Nano’s neocommunists in power, who created this climate and this unprecedented situation. The Americans felt unsafe in a country governed by those who have restored the brutal tools of dictatorship and their ties to international terrorism, which begin with the Saddam of the Balkans, Slobodan Milošević, and who knows where they end. For their forced departure, and who knows where they end? [partly unclear] Albania and Kosovo, whose people are being killed and massacred for their freedoms, trampled on and violated by the Belgrade regime. The Americans’ departure is also an alarm to Albanians, who must not allow 1946 to be repeated in the most tragic way. Nano and Milošević force the Americans to abandon Albania. The State Department urges American citizens to leave the “country of the eagles” US Embassy in Tirana

30 days of miners’ strike, no response from the government All the residents of the Bulqiza district have now joined the striking miners in solidarity. The 23,000 residents of this district, from Qafë-Bualli to Ura e Topojanit, have fully sided with the strikers, supporting them at every moment. Every day, from early in the morning, all the people of the town gather on the main street and, silently, accompany the striking miners as far as the entrance to the mine gallery, to the square where it has been designated by

Kosovo’s Mandela takes the helm of the KLA’s political representation “This new team of interlocutors for Rugova is nothing other than an alchemist’s creation. No concrete force stands behind it, such as the KLA or the will of the Albanian people” ON PAGE 3

Hajdari: Serb violations of airspace have become routine ON PAGE 3

The people of Kurban manifest their anger at the government over the blocking of funds for public services It was the police officers’ statement that “next time we will no longer disperse the protesters if the government does not take measures to provide the water pumps” that prompted the people of Kurban to clear the national road and go home with their emptied canisters and buckets ON PAGE 3

Berisha receives French government envoy for the Kosovo crisis, Ambassador Jacques Huntzinger Yesterday, PD Chairman Sali Berisha received Ambassador Jacques Huntzinger, the French government’s envoy for the crisis in Kosovo, at the Party headquarters. Ambassador Huntzinger stressed that the French government is very concerned about the situation in Kosovo and is deeply committed to finding the quickest possible political solution to this crisis. “We,” he said, “support Rugova’s efforts and have expressed the view that the various forces and Kosovo’s stakeholders should find common ground in order to enter into talks. Naturally, France is attentive to the situation in northern Albania, to the Serbs’ provocative actions there, and to the issue of Albanians from Kosovo who have been forcibly displaced from their homes. PD Chairman Berisha thanked Ambassador Huntzinger for his efforts to resolve the Kosovo crisis and praised France’s position, as well as that of senior French officials with whom he had the opportunity to meet and exchange views a short time ago. He said that France could influence the situation in Kosovo, just as it had done in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mr. Berisha stressed that we have supported Rugova’s efforts to find a solution to the problem, including his establishment of a representative and negotiating team, just as we support the KLA, which defends Albanian lands and the families of Kosovo Albanians. We also support its decision to have Mr. Adem Demaçi at the head of its leadership and political representation. We have insisted, and continue to insist, that the various forces in Kosovo unite to take part in the process of finding a political solution to the crisis. But we are convinced that finding a solution will be very difficult without the intervention of the international community, the US and NATO, to stop Milošević. In response to Ambassador Huntzinger’s inquiry about the situation in Albania, PD Chairman Berisha outlined the country’s difficult economic situation, the political crisis, the lack of law and order and stability, the government’s violation of institutions and the opposition, constitutional violations, and the rampant rise in smuggling, corruption and crime in the country. “Our political strategy,” Berisha stressed, “is to defend human freedoms and rights, democratic principles and political pluralism.” At the end of the meeting, Mr. Berisha asked Ambassador Huntzinger to consider the possibility of sending a well-known French constitutional expert to Albania to take part in the round table of political parties convened by the Democratic Party, to be held in Tirana on 31 August 1998 to discuss the draft constitution. The meeting was marked by mutual understanding and a spirit of friendship, and it was agreed that the dialogue would continue in the future. The French Ambassador to Tirana, Patrick Chri(s)mant, also attended the meeting.

US Embassy in Tirana