Police do not intervene; parent pays 20 million ON PAGE 4

Police asks the government to stop the speedboats ON PAGE 4

The Prime Minister seeks to escape the obsession with the theft of Italian aid Fatos Klosi’s police officers ransack Judge Agim Bendo’s home

People in local government, too, have become targets of state attacks. The dismissal of the chairman of the Korçë District destroys any hope that it is possible to reach a lawful understanding with this government and administration. It also puts obstacles in the way of cooperation between local and central government, sabotaging the work of local government as much as possible. Ever since the Socialists came to power, local government has been the most attacked. In the autumn of last year, all local investments and loans under local-government infrastructure programs were halted, with a clear intention to create as much distance as possible from the people. Meanwhile, by an arbitrary order of the Prime Minister, around 400 local-government secretaries were removed from their posts; it is thought that many of the dismissals planned by the government will be filled with names from the local administration. Central government has also repeatedly and arbitrarily attacked the mayors of Tirana. The satellites of the SP have called for new local elections throughout the country, trying, through the gangs they still protect, to seize local government by force of arms in the same way they seized central government. The attack on local government has caused a general strike by the entire local administration across the country, while dozens of protests have exposed the government’s expansion against this level of government. The government’s incompetence has gone so far that it is preparing a secret plan to divide Tirana’s administrations, with the aim of provoking local elections in the capital. Meanwhile, through such a division, the Socialists would manage to eliminate the local administration while creating positions for their own militants throughout the region’s key nodes. It seems that the government has intervened in the matter of the chairman of the Korçë District Council, raising the conflict between local and central government to a higher level. This is not merely a conflict centered on particular individuals: the unlawful removal of a district chairman spreads the tension injected by the government throughout the Albanian state. It should be emphasized that this is the second case in which a district chairman has been removed at a meeting, under the diktat of people who are constantly positioned as representatives of the central local-government directorate, which also has its own people. Such a removal also underscores the irresponsibility of the central government, which, after carrying out an illegal action, tells local representatives to go to court. In government, it has not been possible to take legal action against illegal acts. They have examined the same collective bodies themselves, where it is not the law that prevails but merely the collective principles of mass opinion, which also include the preferences of office secretaries and members of Nano’s club. Through this administration, all power has been centralized in Albania, leaving no room for political power or an administration bound by laws and legal procedures to maneuver. It seems clear to Albania’s government officials that the game over local government is more than a simple game. All these 16 difficulties are understandable; they often work against cooperation between political forces and levels of government, against the independence of local government, and will inevitably produce many problems that ordinary people will have to bear.

ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED MILITARY PERSONNEL OF ALBANIA, BASHKIMI ADHETAR Former military personnel heading for a hunger strike Yesterday, protesters marched along “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Boulevard Yesterday, protesters marched along “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Boulevard. Photo: A. HISA

The number of extortion demands targeting traders and businesspeople in Albania is rising Anonymous phone calls forcing various citizens to hand over a considerable sum of money at a designated place have recently become a concern in the country. In the capital alone, 12 cases have been recorded, while many others have not been made public following severe threats of physical elimination. The police have still not released official figures on this disturbing and growing phenomenon, while many complaints have been concealed. Numerous traders are being forced to pay astronomical sums after threats to kill them or their family members. The case reported in Elbasan, where a parent was forced to pay 20 million lekë in exchange for their kidnapped child, shows that, after police indifference, anonymous phone calls have turned into concrete actions. Albanians are being forced to accept this phenomenon too, although only a short time ago they were astonished to see such events in films. ON PAGE 4

Deloitte & Touche’s statement about the liquidation of five companies sparked the protest Yesterday was the third day of the protest by creditors of the VEFA company ON PAGE 4

The “over-governed” say: “Brussels paid for transparency; we are in debt”

Azem Hajdari, head of the PD’s Department of Security and Public Order, speaks about the rebellion, the “McCarthy” commission, and the pyramid-scheme people “This parliament and all Albanians must be convinced that we are here only to defend the truth and bring to justice all those responsible for the wounds inflicted on the country during the communist rebellion.” ON PAGE 3

Local Socialist Party chairpersons are put on notice ON PAGE 3 The chairman of “Makarit,” Spartak Ngjela, plays the penitent Spartak Braho heading to court

They opposed an illegal order to surveil police officers who speak out against the PS, PAD, and the government Political purges in the police continue ON PAGE 4

The Albanian President begins his visit to Turkey; Demirel, Jilmaz, and Cem do not meet him at the airport President Rexhep Meidani began a three-day official visit to Turkey with a delegation that includes Deputy Prime Minister Fino, Foreign Minister Milo, and Privatization Minister Bufi. President Meidani was received at Ankara airport by the Secretary of State for Sport, Jukel Seckin. President Demirel, Prime Minister Jilmaz, and Foreign Minister Cem were not present.

The Albanian President met Under Secretary Pickering The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that Meidani’s meeting with senior U.S. officials during his first state visit to the United States had taken place at the State Department. Rubin, in a public statement, also provided information about the content of the talks between Meidani and Pickering. According to Fiqiri Seidis, in the United States American personalities, beginning with Clinton, had lined up to meet Meidani. Seidia even said that Meidani and Clinton had held a conversation lasting several minutes, and that, in describing the visit at this meeting, he presented scenes with police officers, bodyguards, and dogs in Washington. The President’s spokesperson also followed Sejdis’s misinformation, abusing insinuations about American political and historical figures and turning their courtesies into official meetings supposedly reserved especially for the President of Albania. The State Department spokesperson did not address the responsibility of Albanian officials and the government press, but in his statement emphasized the official American position regarding the meetings with Meidani in the United States.

A phantom initiative in Tirana. What is SECI? ON PAGE 3

On Saturday, 14 February 1998, at 11:00, a working meeting will be held at the central headquarters of the Democratic Party of Albania (PDSH), bringing together the chairpersons, deputy chairpersons, secretaries, and public-relations secretaries of the DP branches in the districts with the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha. Attendance is mandatory.