The Confederation of Albania and BSPSH: The government ignores us ON PAGE 5

Today in Elbasan, trade unionists and citizens: ON PAGE 5

Arapi was unable to enter VEFA company properties yesterday ON PAGE 5

Nano made such a statement three weeks ago in Bonn, while yesterday it was published for the first time by German Foreign Minister Kinkel A grave statement by the Albanian prime minister. Albania’s territorial integrity is at risk. The Albanian government does not have the situation under control

Berisha meets Schussel, Atkinson, Berluskonin, Kazinin, Jilmaz, Mock, Segal

Invitation to the chairman of the PD from Berlus-koni and Jilmaz ON PAGE 3

Massacre by the Serbian army near the border ON PAGE 2

The occupiers’ morale has begun to crumble. In Pejë, soldiers are shedding their military uniforms Mass defections by Serbian soldiers in Kosovo have begun. As German radio Deutsche Welle reported yesterday, the morale of the army personnel mobilized by Belgrade for its campaign of repression and violence against Albanians in Kosovo is being shaken. Yesterday, a large number of Serbian soldiers were seen in Pejë who, refusing to become cannon fodder for Belgrade’s appalling politics, threw off their military uniforms and defected from the punitive military operations. After carrying out the act of desertion publicly, a considerable number of soldiers were seen quickly leaving the front along with their vehicles. Sources well informed about the shaken morale of the army personnel say that these acts of desertion are expected to increase further in the future and turn into a genuine erosion. The warnings so far from soldiers from Montenegro or Vojvodina not to go on punitive campaigns against Albanians in Kosovo appear to be receiving support from Serbian soldiers themselves, who, as can be seen, do not want to get involved in President Millosheviç’s dirty political games.

ON PAGE 3

Prime Minister Fatos Nano has stated that his government does not have the country’s borders under control. This is one of the most serious statements, highlighting the fact that under the Nano government Albania is territorially insecure. Such a situation becomes alarming while a large number of Serbian army units have been stationed near Albania’s borders, and the number of soldiers reaches as many as 13,000. Such forces have been deployed along a section of the border between Kosovo and Albania no more than 30 kilometers wide sfare [?], making the country’s security situation serious. Nano made such a statement almost three weeks ago in Bonn, during talks with Foreign Minister Kinkel. It was the latter who made this statement public during a conversation yesterday with Macedonian Foreign Minister Hanhshinski. While the insecurity of Albania’s borders has been made public in another country, Nano has faced three weeks of provo-kim in Albania, a government crisis that spread to almost all the country’s institutions. Albania was without a Defense Minister for more than ten days, thereby bringing about an immediate destabilization of security in the country. While public beatings involving naked women were being staged or carried out in ministers’ offices in Tirana, thousands of Serbian soldiers armed with some of the heaviest weapons were deployed in northern Albania. For more than ten days, Serbian mine-layers have been pelca-sin [?] a few meters from the Albanian border, while fragments [?] of shells have crossed over several times and landed inside our territory. Bombardments have in some cases taken place only a few meters from the Albanian border, while a combat aircraft necessarily shekull hape [?] the Albanian air-raid siren for 400 meters. Despite such situations, which threaten not only the fate of Albanians in Kosovo but also Albania’s own fate, the Albanian Prime Minister dendet [?] the cafés and conducts some sort of political business with his subordinates. What is left for a government to do if it is unable to guard its own borders? To whom should Albanians turn at such a moment, when the Prime Minister, the President and the Minister of Defense have abandoned them? Or should they form independent bands and take turns guarding the borders, as during the First World War? Of course, Albanians understand that their borders cannot be guarded by a Greek company stationed in Tirana. At most, such a company can ensure the safe departure of government officials from Tirana, but it can do nothing for everyone else. In fact, this highly questionable military presence so far shows that insecurity is not only at the state borders but also inside the Albanian capital. The consequences of the communist rebellion have not been repaired under socialist rule, and, moreover, such a government is creating even more elements of this insecurity. If last March there were people in Sariandë, today people [?] speak Albanian in the middle of Tirana, and at the post of the country’s highest official, hands are being laid on the country’s security. No one doubts that Nano can secure the borders. His government can secure only munale [?] and illegal border crossings, the illegal trafficking of people, tobacco or drugs. It has not set itself the goal of providing security for citizens, but encourages it even among its own citizens. Today Albanians have learned from their Prime Minister that they are insecure, robbed, physically unprotected and, moreover, territorially [?]. S.NEZA

Xhaferri: The end of this legislature is near Abdiu’s appointment to the Constitutional Court shows the government’s concept of the independence of the judiciary ON PAGE 3

TIRANA, APRIL 24 /ENTER/ German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said on Friday that Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano had told him he could not control the borders, radio Deutche Welle reported. At a meeting in Bonn with Macedonian Foreign Minister anhxinski, Kinkel told the Macedonian minister that, unlike Albania, Macedonia is able to secure its borders with Kosovo and take care to prevent arms smuggling. “In Albania the situation is a little more difficult,” Kinkel said, adding that Prime Minister Nano, at their latest meeting, had also “told me that he is absolutely unable to secure the borders with Kosovo” and that “we must consider what more we should do in the case of Albania,” Kinkel said. Kinkel asked Hanhshinki to help return Albanian asylum seekers from Germany. At the meeting, Kinkel emphasized the need to begin dialogue between Serbia and the Albanians of Kosovo.

The government coexists with crime SALCBURG /ANSA/ The leader of Italy’s CCD, Pier Ferdinando Kazini, expressed concern over the alarm raised by former Albanian president Sali Berisha regarding the situation in Albania and announced that he would ask the chairman of the Chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Akile Oketo, to put this issue on the agenda. The CCD leader, speaking to journalists during the EDU congress being held in Salzburg, said that former Albanian president Sali Berisha had told him over breakfast that the situation in his country had “deteriorated considerably” and that there was “a kind of coexistence between organized crime and those governing the country.” “Precisely for this reason,” Kazini said, “in the coming hours we will ask Oketo to include this issue on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Committee’s proceedings, so that a mission concerning Albania can be organized, which I hope will be collegiate, involving Italy’s political forces.” From an earlier Berisha-Kazini meeting Berisha meets Schussel, Atkinson, Berluskonin, Kazinin, Jilmaz, Mock, Segal

Chairman of the Parliamentary Defense Committee, Azem Hajdari, speaks following the recent events on the northeastern border and in Kosovo Today, the Yugoslav agency is more active than ever on three fronts: portraying Albanians as terrorists, fragmenting Albanian policies in Kosovo, and activating espionage contingents in Albania within the highest state bodies. ON PAGE 2

The Minister of Public Order will no longer sign orders appointing and dismissing personnel in police structures ON PAGE 2

Senior PD officials meet with residents of Rrëshen ON PAGE 4

Newly elected EDU president Ninisto (left) and former president Alois Mock (right)