Those in power fear the collaborators of the revolution ON PAGE 4

The mystery surrounding the professor’s murder is beginning to be cleared up ON PAGE 4

The government comments on the transparency of companies ON PAGE 5 DELOITTE & TOUCHE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM VEFA

The Otranto tragedy and the black agreement of 28 March with the committees accuse the regime that rose to power on blood and crime

Gjinushi pelted with stones The families of the Otranto victims shut their doors to Gjinushi The families of the Otranto victims shut the doors of their homes to those responsible for the tragedy. Gjinushi and the other instruments of the criminal state were pelted with stones, and many Vlora families who had lost their loved ones a year earlier refused to let them offer condolences. Exactly one year after the tragedy, the victims’ families were able to identify the killers of their children and relatives. Nano, Meidani, Gjinushi and the clique that has come to power, while taking no measures to recover the other bodies swallowed by the sea, have made no effort to uncover the truth about this

The DP calls for respect for the political will of the Albanians of Kosovo “The Italian government should be more active and support the US positions on the Kosovo issue” The disarmament problem will be definitively resolved by elections The government made things more difficult Berisha: The opposition should work for new elections The government is a source of crisis

Albanians commemorated yesterday the first anniversary of the Otranto tragedy, taking stock of a year that is an understatement to call disastrous. The truth about the tragedy of March 28, 1997. The truth about the tragedy of March 28, 1997 remains bitter and still sends shivers down the spine; it continues to be locked away in the government’s—and especially the accused officials’—safes. A year later, we can say that not only has nothing been done to shed light on the great human drama that sank at least 83 lives in the waters of Otranto, but everything has been done to conceal and forget it. Migje and Zani Çausha in Nano’s cabinet have spent 12 months moving every piece to erase the traces leading to the truth about March 28. It is now clear to all Albanians, especially those who have not yet taken off their black clothes for their lost family members, that those responsible today are the ones who have rejected Berisha’s and the Democratic Party’s repeated calls for an international investigation. The Democrats find it difficult to disclose last year’s shocking testimony and continue to remain in their shell over the major role they played in the tragedy that sank Albanians, and over ordering the departure of the Karri i Radës beneath the stars of Koxha’s Kalashnikovs. A year later, Albanians demand that the truth about Otranto be revealed. Those who were tragically destroyed continue to hope for the last [unclear] about Otranto, but no one has even [unclear] for the people of their country. Those who forced the officials of Vorë, Fier and Lushnjë to make people leave their homes for the sea, leaving them as prey in the middle of the Adriatic, are now in power, with the bloodiest and most ruthless people of bloodshed and insecurity—the same ones who, on March 28 last year, filled the roads with revolutionary Kalashnikovs. A year later, dozens more Otrantos have happened. The new victims of the Adriatic are dozens at sea, with motives just as compelling as those of March 28 last year. They have faced death, pursued by criminal gangs, poverty and the lack of hope killed by the bad government and the government of Fatos Nano, Sali Berisha, Arben Malaj and Naimi Kim Pino. On the anniversary of the Otranto tragedy, which was commemorated, as the victims’ relatives put it, a ceremony was held in the shadow of their loved ones. able to identify the killers of their families and relatives. Nano, Meidani, Gjinushi and the clique that came to power have taken no measures to find the other bodies swallowed by the sea, nor made any attempt to reveal the truth about this tragedy. After taking every step to ensure that it would not become the subject of an international investigation, they continue to keep locked away the truth about the catastrophe organized by the criminal leaders of the Socialist Party. But this file will never be closed, because the dozens of innocent lives lost in the darkness of the sea demand that the guilty be punished. The government may temporarily conceal the truth and leave the killers free for a while, but justice will prevail. Fortunately, enough people survived the tragedy to testify about its perpetrators and organizers. Grief for their loved ones will give Albanians the courage to denounce the gangs and committees that come and go without drowning, and that killed only the victims of Otranto. On March 28, Albanians see that the country continues to be held hostage by those who set it ablaze a year ago, leading the infamous criminal committees. The politicians who signed the agreement a year ago alongside the monsters of the “delayed democratic revolution” are now concealing the truth, corruption, smuggling and violence, and want to turn them into even bigger bogeymen for Albanians than last year. It is no coincidence that just days ago the extension of the infamous Vlora committee, which has merely changed its name, was received in his office by the President of the Republic, Rexhep Meidani. One year after the agreement of March 28 in Vlora, Albania is in the same crisis as on the day when Artur Dade, Preç Zogaj, Skënder Gjinushi, Sabri Godo and others signed, to the deep shame of their parties, alongside Albert Shyti, Gjoleke Malaj, Xhevat Koçiu and other committees of the burned south. That was by no means an ordinary formal declaration, but the institutionalization of political crime that would strip Albania bare in a river of blood and destruction. All the signatories, in ties and open-necked fashionable shirts, are condemned by history for their March 28 declaration as responsible for the tragedy they had set in motion and continue to keep this country mired in. Not only the officials who emerged from the rigged elections and are merely present for the moment, but also perennial would-be opposition figures such as Sabri Godo can never escape the burden of the blood of March 28. It is no coincidence that the political profile of the protagonists of the Albanian tragedy has not changed at all in recent days; not even Godo’s appearance, which they have altered on several occasions over the past year. The balance sheet of a year of disaster for Albanians has remained unchanged. The three institutions—perhaps it is not that there are no solutions; indeed, one could say this is the misfortune of this country’s workers—have been overtaken by the same evil that took hold a year ago. Not one of the 83 lives lost at sea has been found, and no effort has been made. On the Adriatic anniversary, today’s officials are still in an agreement with the criminals of the committees.

Polo and Gjana in Tepelenë and Gjirokastër, Bode and Topalli in Cërrik Today, the DP leaders are in Sarandë and Delvinë. The southern towns are calling for new elections ON PAGE 2

President Rugova’s press conference The people’s will is: an independent, free and democratic Kosovo ON PAGE 7 All the facts about Kosovo and the details of this meeting are on page 7. Contact Group Meeting / Contact Group Meeting / Bonn / March 25, 1998

SHKSH: Përmet and Tepelenë are at risk According to the Albanian Consumers’ Association, the rice seen in these towns is consumed by poultry in Greece. According to observations made, it has been found that the same is true of meat and chicken products..... ON PAGE 5

Government pleased with the Contact Group’s failure Kosovo has nothing to expect from a government that acts in the interests of Milošević Yesterday, Nano delivered a speech to his ministers about his visit to Bonn and the meeting of the Contact Group. In his remarks, Nano said he was pleased with what he had achieved, in his view, in Bonn. Nano’s spokesperson confirmed the same position at a press conference. According to them, the internationalization of the Kosovo issue and the condemnation of Serbian massacres in Kosovo by all the participants at the Contact Group meeting were achievements. Nano’s position in Bonn has been criticized not only by the Albanian opposition, which had warned that Nano would fail, but also by the Kosovo authorities. In fact, the Contact Group meeting acted against Kosovo’s interests, since it took no measures against Milošević. Nano, who was present at that meeting, did not manage to influence the decisions at all; in other words, he failed in Bonn. Precisely to avoid admitting this failure, Nano and his spokesperson say they are pleased with what was achieved, forgetting that this means making a double mistake. It would have been more honest, and more beneficial to the issue, for Nano to admit that he had failed and criticize the Contact Group’s position. With the position he is taking, Nano shows that the Albanian government’s demands are not even as strong as those of the US government, which has expressed dissatisfaction with the results in Bonn. Thus, Nano opposes the US position expressed by Albright, who called on the great powers to impose harsher sanctions on Milošević. Ultimately, it can be said that Kosovo has nothing to expect from this government, which so far has acted only in Milošević’s interests, not Kosovo’s. E.P

The Prime Minister, Albania’s most irresponsible statesman, continues his colossal deceptions A war against liberalization: Nano returns to the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies Fatos Nano continued his usual paranoia yesterday, which he displays most often at the weekly government meeting. The Albanian Prime Minister, now full of vices, stands out as the most irresponsible man in Albania. At yesterday’s government meeting, the man behind the most brazen deceptions continued them once again, using syntax that is incomprehensible and even less likely to be productive. Like a rooster perched on a dung heap, standing above his ministers—most of them corrupt to the core—Nano finds it very easy to act out his paranoia. The most worthless man ever to occupy a place in the history of the Albanian state even thinks of arguing with history, which has been most bloodied by the mentality of the current prime minister. As a mouthpiece for anti-Albanian circles at the head of the Albanian government, he has the audacity to make declarations and mock all the national values of this country, and, moreover, to ridicule the many sufferings Albania has endured over several decades because of the party he now leads. The habitual liar and great falsifier of figures and facts thinks he is speaking to ignorant people, rather than to his own citizens. He mixes figures and facts with philosophical ravings in the most absurd way, constantly trying to muddy the waters wherever he can. He has no moral sense and no inclination toward responsibility. The grave situation of Albanians—in the economy, in politics, and in their decline as a factor, as well as in their own affairs—is the product of his now incurable paranoia and, even more, of the great quantity of alcohol he drinks. Meanwhile, his speech stands out for its attacks on liberalism, which call to mind the Central Committee of the Party of Labour’s Fourth Plan and a return to the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies—the continuing obsession of Fatos Nano.