“RD” journalist faces criminal prosecution ON PAGE 2

Police take Misret Sahiti to Police Station No. 1 ON PAGE 5

A speedboat carrying 15 Albanians is intercepted. A clandestine migrant is killed ON PAGE 4

The truth about the latest attack on the police station in the anti-communist city is revealed The Interior Minister calls for the OSCE offices to be burned down ON PAGE 4

Tirana in the protest square “Down with the government of poverty!” Tirana in the protest square “Down with the government of poverty!”

Eighteen Albanian parties and nine associations call on the international community to ensure a civilian military presence in Kosovo and to organize a “Dayton” to resolve the Albanian question Sanctions against the Milošević regime must be maintained, and the Albanian authorities must make arrangements for ... NATO and WEU troops to guarantee stability in the region ON PAGE 3

The country has been gripped by a major crisis, with no end in sight. The IMF has postponed signing the ESAF-2 agreement for another two months, while the entire Albanian economy is heading toward total collapse. High taxes have isolated businesses, inflation is rising ever further, and prices are changing not from day to day anymore, but from hour to hour. Unemployment in the country has not decreased at all; on the contrary, it has risen dramatically. Masses of people are slipping below the poverty line, where thousands and thousands of other Albanians already find themselves. The IMF’s refusal to sign the agreement comes during these darkest days under Nano’s government. IMF experts cannot sign such an agreement in a situation of deteriorating public order and security, while Nano has no strategy for returning the money owed to frightened Albanian creditors, and socioeconomic conditions are at a lower level than ever before in the country. For seven months, the Nano government has only deepened Albanians’ pessimism without kindling even a glimmer of hope, except among government officials, whom it has drawn into an endless smuggling operation. After the great deception over the money invested in pyramid schemes, yesterday Nano’s political police arrested the chairman of the creditors’ association. Dozens of hunger strikers were surrounded by police and took refuge at the headquarters of the VEFA company, while the state looked on as those operating outside the law were beaten and arrested. The government has become so hostile toward the people, and the clearest indication of the wretched political state of Albanian officials is their conflict with the press. Two days ago, a group of police handcuffed the independent daily newspaper “Bulevard”; another group shut down the private television channel “VEFA” that same day; and the government took two “Rilindja Demokratike” journalists and one radio journalist to court. In addition to imprisoning dozens and dozens of opposition activists and, in some cases, even killing them, the Nano government is fomenting crime and terrorism. The day before yesterday, Minister Çeka warned of terrorism in Shkodër, just ten days after he had set it on fire. This time, the threat was not against state institutions, but against the offices of international institutions in the city, such as the OSCE. In fact, the Albanian government functions only as a vehicle for lawlessness, serving to enrich the former communist elite at the expense of millions of other Albanians. The constant breaking of laws, the amendment of constitutional laws, and the blatant interference with and violation of the independence of the justice system have turned the country into a paradise for crime, from ordinary crime to political crime. No one is safe under the Nano government. A survey conducted by independent institutions and published just a few days ago found that more than half of Albanians were afraid—a case without precedent in the history of nations. Even in such a situation, it does not occur to Albanian government officials to resign and give Albanians some breathing room. They have made a mockery of democracy and development; they have killed people’s optimism and their faith in both the state and the future. Of course, the IMF would have to close its eyes and ears to sign an agreement with the Nano government. There is no institution in the world that could share responsibility with this government, which is condemning Albania today.

We will wait for the government until March 20 ON PAGE 2

The president of VEFA accuses certain state elements of causing the company’s bankruptcy ON PAGE 5

Who remained silent about the closure of “Bulevard”? The government press remained silent yesterday, in unison, about the authorities’ closure of the newspaper “Bulevard”. The whole line of people who for five years in a row brandished the temporary handcuffs of Alekandër Frangaj and Martin Leka as a symbol of collective persecution... ON PAGE 3

FRPD condemns the stance of the Albanian authorities in their response to Kosovo The Youth Forum of the Democratic Party condemns in the strongest possible terms the stance of Prime Minister Fatos Nano, who, compelled by his government, expresses “concern...” ON PAGE 2

A protest against the Nano government begins in Selenicë

18 parties and 9 associations, in the square for Kosovo Tomorrow, on 06.03.1998, at 12:00, in Skënderbej Square in Tirana, 18 patriotic-political parties and 9 associations are organizing a large rally in support of the Albanians of Kosovo and to protest against the Serbian massacre carried out against Albanians in Drenicë. The message to be conveyed at this rally will be: “One nation, one stance”. Permission for the rally has been obtained from the police. The Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Balli Kombëtar Party, the Legality Movement Party, the Christian Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Union Party, the Democratic Union Party, the Movement for Democracy Party, the Conservative Party, the Democratic Union Party, the National Rights Party, the Popular Democratic League Party, the National Rights Protection Party, the Right-Wing Party, the Peasant League Party, the Universal Party, the Bleri Party, the National Covenant Party. The associations: “Kosova”, “League of Prizren”, “Atdheu”, the General Council of the Albanian National Movement, “Çamëria”, “Anti-Communist Persecuted Persons”, the Albanian Atlantic Association, the Independent Student Union, “United Organization of War Veterans”.

ESAF-2 returns to the negotiating table of conditions This is the third time the IMF has backed away from signing the ESAF-2 agreement for Albania, suggesting that the Albanian government may once again be penalized with the signing of a six-month post-conflict agreement ON PAGE 5

Former Deputy Minister of Finance Robert Çejku speaks after returning from the USA