Arapi answers to the people of Vlora at Flag Square ON PAGE 5

Insecurity and fear continue on the roads ON PAGE 4

Creditors meet the deputy prosecutor ON PAGE 5

Face-to-face meeting between Nano and Meidani. Smuggling remains in the government The President demands a share in the government’s mafia business. The puppet President begins making concessions. Fino returns to the post of Deputy Prime Minister

The prosecution acknowledges the government mafia but does nothing Majko opens the smuggling file: Malaj has been summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office within 15 minutes to give explanations about the file on

The spectacle put on by Meidani and Nano for more than a week came to an end yesterday. A meeting held between them yesterday, reported afterward by the Prime Minister’s press office, stated that there is nothing between them and that everything is being done for the good of the work. After this observation, it remains unclear to most ordinary Albanians why the changes in the Government were made. If we go by the official propaganda from the Prime Minister’s people, the Government’s restructuring was carried out for the good of the work; if we refer to the Presidency, the former ministers worked very well, were successful, and were warmly thanked by Meidani himself; but if we refer to the meeting between Nano and Meidani, something about this whole repulsive spectacle makes no sense. During the week in which the Government was restructured, the pace of crimes and murders remained the same, as did the problems of poverty and misery, and the concerns that grow every day. The former ministers and those appointed yesterday, or not appointed, from Lush Përpali, who left the Cabinet on his own, to Edi Rama, who joined the Cabinet of his own accord, became pawns in Nano and Meidani’s hands in their bargaining with each other over names, posts, and people. In this important bargaining, the coalition with the small parties, the names of Cabinet members, the posts, and the individuals concerned were ultimately left up in the air. The Socialists’ government thus brought this spectacle to a close and gave Albanians yet another example of why the country is not governed. This time, the example is particularly significant, because it shows the Albanian rulers themselves speaking, from the head of state down to Duka, who waits in the lobby for the ministers. During the week that has just passed, the… people had a good opportunity to see what it means to be governed by those in power. For more than a whole week, the Government’s propaganda, with its spokesperson, played out the ugliest farce to conceal the failure of Socialist rule. If the opening was spectacular, the closing of this performance remains even more spectacular in its wretchedness. The comedy staged around the changes in the Government, framed as a conflict between Nano and Meidani, featured mediocre, second-rate actors who keep believing that, in contrived performances, they can make the audience laugh. The vaunted transparency of the Prime Minister’s changes and Meidani’s decrees is the same as the transparency of the Mafia. Nano still has not explained why he removed so many Cabinet members, while Meidani still has not explained why he replaced them if, according to him, they had worked very well. Their show of strength was nothing more than an attempt by Meidani to become part of the Mafia family called the Nano 4 Government. As for Nano, who undoubtedly directs this family, he has accepted him on its periphery because he causes no trouble—in fact, he even covers his back. On the other hand, even after the bargains now being called restructuring, the country is governed in the same way, with the same concerns and problems for the people: lack of law and order, unemployment, poverty sliding into misery, unemployment, lack of prospects, and so on. The bargains dressed up as restructuring distance the Government a few more steps from the people, narrowing the circle around the Clique’s family—this time to its members alone—while bringing its end closer. SH. PEPOPSHI

The 3rd conference of the capital’s LDG held its proceedings ON PAGE 2

The opposition denounces lists of senior government officials who looted the rentier firms ON PAGE 3

Where did Ceka find the file, and why did he send it to the prosecutor’s office only now? Is this file connected to the one concerning Division XXI?

The Deputy Chairman of the DP speaks at the CoE Assembly The DP’s Deputy Chairman, Genc Pollo, was the only member of the Albanian delegation to speak about Kosovo at the meeting of the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE. One of the points in the draft resolution to be discussed on Wednesday concerned the CoE Assembly President’s visit to Belgrade. In his remarks, Pollo welcomed the Council of Europe’s immediate response, stressing that after Wednesday’s resolution a clear message must be sent to Milosevic to accept unconditional dialogue to resolve the Kosovo issue. Analyzing the situation in Kosovo, Pollo stressed that it is extremely grave and explosive. State repression and violence against Albanians have exceeded all imagination, the DP Deputy Chairman emphasized. He said that this situation of repression, unparalleled in Europe against European citizens, must end as soon as possible, and that this can be achieved by resolving the Kosovo issue as soon as possible. Pollo stressed that pressure must be put on Milosevic to accept international mediation, as requested by the OSCE, the Contact Group, and the Council of Europe. In his speech, the DP Deputy Chairman described in detail the Serbian massacres in Drenica and other parts of Kosovo carried out by the police and Serbian paramilitary forces. After this description, Pollo said that the rump Yugoslavia’s request to join the CoE was an act that was both offensive and ridiculous. The DP Deputy Chairman was the only representative of Albania to speak at the Bureau of the CoE Assembly. The representatives and officials of the PS and its allies did not bother to discuss the Kosovo issue.

'98 - Another 45,000 thousand unemployed Negative figures: 15,000 unemployed in 100 days, 20,000 families without income within three months, and 4,200 new jobs still only on paper. These rates testify to the failure not of one or two ministers, but of an entire so-called social program, based on the deception of creating 200,000 new jobs. ON PAGE 5

The DP calls a roundtable of parties to resolve the all-encompassing crisis. Let us unite for new elections “This government is neither of the south nor of the north, but a mafia group. Only in Serbia can you find such anti-popular figures in power” “This government is neither of the south nor of the north, but a mafia group. Only in Serbia can you find such anti-popular figures in power.” ON PAGE 3

ON PAGE 2

List of winning prizes in the National Tele-Bingo draw dated 19 April 1998 MINI-BINGO PRIZE Tickets No. 2352 win the Mini-Bingo prize worth 4,000 lekë The following are eligible to compete for the Grand Prizes: Ticket No. 2352 Series 774 Ticket No. 2352 Series 724 Ticket No. 2352 Series 787 The 3 winners listed above will compete against one another next Sunday, 26 April 1998, for: AN APARTMENT A CAR A TOURIST TRIP SUPPLEMENTARY PRIZES All tickets in series 764 win the third supplementary prize worth 60 lekë (regardless of ticket number) All tickets in series 765 win the second supplementary prize worth 180 lekë (regardless of ticket number) All tickets in series 788 win the first supplementary prize worth 300 lekë (regardless of ticket number) Winners of the Supplementary and Mini-Bingo prizes may collect them at any Tele-Bingo or Toto-Futboll sales point. Winners of the grand prizes must contact National Tele-Bingo immediately by telephone at 414-29. For the next draw, 100 series numbered 001–100 have been put on sale.