Seven days after the strike by Shkodra teachers, the government resorts to violence ON PAGE 4

Masked men roamed freely in Kurbin ON PAGE 4

Press statement by the Democratic Party branch, Burrel ON PAGE 4

ON PAGE 3 The leader of the Democratic Party and the Prime Minister also discuss Kosovo. Positions on the Albanian issue should be unified Last night, a meeting lasting over two hours between Berisha and Majko. The government accepts the opposition’s demands. Pollo and Meta were also at the meeting, as were the striking students Berisha and Majko last night at the “Rogner” hotel immediately after the meeting

Students: They will not end the strike without receiving guarantees from the government that all our demands will be met

. The opposition and the government met yesterday at a time when every passing moment could seriously endanger the lives of dozens of students on hunger strike, and when Albania has been engulfed in a multidimensional crisis from which an exit seems almost hopeless. The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, spoke for more than two hours yesterday with Prime Minister Pandeli Majko about the most urgent problems that Albanian politics must overcome if it is to look to the future. But although yesterday’s meeting broke a kind of ice in Albania’s politically cemented landscape of recent years, it is much too early to celebrate [?]. The enthusiasm has no [?]. There is no reason to raise one’s voice in enthusiasm and recall the years or months that have passed, or the last time Albania’s political heavyweights met, since nothing extraordinary has happened yet. Yesterday, the Albanian government agreed to enter into dialogue and address the demands of the students on hunger strike, launch independent investigations into the Hajdari case, and modify its positions on the Kosovo issue. Its promises should be regarded as a good omen for easing the situation in the country, but only if they do not remain mere promises for much longer. If Majko, Meta and the others who tried yesterday to present a different face of their government do not take dialogue with the students and the other issues discussed seriously, they should understand that they will leave office much sooner than their predecessors. We must never forget that, in bringing about yesterday’s meeting, this government bears sole responsibility for the entire crisis, of which the students’ supreme sacrifice is also a part. Majko and his people must free all of Albania from the heavy burden of the murder of the December leader, Azem Hajdari, because the blood on his shirt alone could bring down many more Socialist governments. They must also abandon all political accusations and the persistent persecution of the opposition that they have pursued since coming to power through the violent elections of June 29. Meanwhile, Majko and Meta have it in their hands to distance themselves as soon as possible from the anti-Albanian positions of Nano and his government, which have been a stab in the back to the Kosovo cause. According to the participants in yesterday’s meeting, this was also the point on which the opposition and the government’s views converged most strongly. Yesterday, the Democratic Party once again showed that it has never lacked the goodwill to cooperate in the interests of the country. Berisha and Pollo demonstrated yesterday that the opposition has taken a measured stance regarding the situation in the country and the students’ demands, making great efforts to find a solution. All the misgivings of the Democratic Party leaders about meeting with the government dissipated once the alarm over the lives of the student hunger strikers had subsided. Those whose foremost demands were also present when they brought down the dictatorship in 1991 could hardly fail to try to do something for the students’ fate. The opposition did not attend the meeting as the students’ representatives, since the students chose their own representatives, but to show Majko how pressing and justified their demands are. Whatever this government intends to do about bringing the hunger strike to an end, it will be remembered as the government that pushed students to the very brink of a life-or-death struggle. The fact that the main players in Albanian politics faced one another directly at yesterday’s meeting is also worth noting. The Democratic Party leaders met with government officials who are also figures in the Socialist Party, without bringing into the discussion certain elements of the two parties [?], who play no small role in the current administration. By facing one another, with the government’s stated objections, they in fact respected Albania’s political reality, which [?] parties opportunities in accordance with their weight and responsibilities. In any case, this meeting should be considered a good step toward easing the political climate in the country, provided the Majko government is sincere and able to fulfill its promises. Otherwise, it will remain a dark stain in the blackened record of the left-wing coalition in power since June 29.

Pollo: The students’ demands must be fulfilled by the government not only in words, but also in deeds ON PAGE 2

the former Socialist prime minister Nano will “clean himself up” by stealing again ON PAGE 4 The court’s review of the decision: another multimillion-[lek] theft by the former Socialist prime minister

Political forces from across the Albanian-speaking region boycott the official Tirana invitation to a roundtable on Kosovo In a year and a half, almost none of the leading representatives of Kosovo’s Albanians have been seen at the doors of Tirana’s government officials, who have not hesitated from time to time to declare themselves openly against the national aspirations of Kosovo’s Albanians. ON PAGE 3

20 billion lire have arrived to combat poverty, but they have all disappeared ON PAGE 5

Teachers from the Tirana district protest against retaining the “solidarity” tax ON PAGE 5

Statement by the United Federation of Teachers in New York ON PAGE 2

Today, 100 days since the murder of the December Leader Every day that passes since the murder of Azem Hajdari, the symbol of democracy and pluralism, proves the involvement of Fatos Nano’s government and his successor in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. The government of the former communists, which leaves free and undisturbed the criminals who took the life of the December Leader, is showing Albanians that they have been and are on the side of the murderers, who have taken power but are not touched by those in power. The Democrats and all honest Albanians, along with the late Azem Hajdari, can under no circumstances tolerate this fact. The government must either arrest the criminals and bring them to justice, or publicly declare that it itself committed the murder of Azem Hajdari.

Vlorë special forces leave their posts: They deceived us about the bonus Members of the Vlorë special forces abandoned their posts yesterday in protest against the non-payment of the bonus promised by the government. Although they were expecting to receive the bonus on top of their salaries yesterday, at the Vlorë police station offices they felt they had been deceived by their chiefs and the Minister of the Interior. Members of the special forces demanded the bonuses and expressed their dissatisfaction over this deception. After that, they asked for an explanation for the missing bonus, while their chiefs told them that this was the situation, in a [??], if you don’t like it, leave. Immediately afterward, all members of the special forces handed in their equipment and abandoned their duties at the Vlorë Police Directorate.

Berisha and Majko last night at the “Rogner” hotel immediately after the meeting