The state seeks to manipulate the “Alimuçaj” case file ON PAGE 4

Economics students petition the Ministry and the Rectorate ON PAGE 5

Yesterday, creditors protested at the Court of Appeal ON PAGE 5

Nano’s and Klosi’s mercenaries threaten to kill benefactor Kuka 12 parties and 4 associations at the table to resolve the creditors’ problem: The Prime Minister must keep his promise ON PAGE 4 12 parties and 4 associations at the table to resolve the creditors’ problem: The Prime Minister must keep his promise

Message from the Austrian President to the chairman of the DP The chairman of the DP, Sali Berisha, received yesterday the Austrian Ambassador to Albania, Arno Riedel, who delivered a message from Austrian President Tomas Klestil to the chairman of the DP of Albania. Thanking him for the greetings sent by Mr. Sali Berisha on the occasion of his re-election as President of Austria, Mr. Tomas Klestil states in the message that he will continue to follow developments in Albania with great interest and contribute to deepening relations between the two countries. At the same time, he conveys his best wishes for Sali Berisha’s work toward a peaceful and prosperous future for the people and Albania. Upon receiving the message, DP Chairman Berisha asked the ambassador to convey his profound thanks to the Austrian President for his great interest and for the assistance President Klestil and Austria have given to the Albanian people. During the meeting, the Austrian ambassador expressed views on the latest developments in Albania and Kosovo that were in agreement with the position and analysis of DP chairman Berisha.

Testimony of a former Guardsman who took part in the events ON PAGE 4

The crisis in the Socialist Party is spreading to the grassroots. The local leadership is against the top leader: Nano, “a castrated goat with its tail held high” “Better to join Hysni Milloshi’s party than to coexist

Albanian government officials tried yesterday to distance themselves from the crimes that create martyrs. Through visits to the families of various leading victims, the authors of the communist rebellion in Albania sought a measure of forgiveness from the thousands of Albanian families whose people were killed in the flames of the communist revolution that engulfed the country during the spring of 1997. Likewise, presidents who cultivated their predecessors, from whom they differ in no way, created thousands of false martyrs in the struggle to defend communist ideology and destroy all the democratic genes of Albanians. The government delegation’s visits to Albanian families and the martyrs’ cemeteries yesterday were among the hypocritical acts Albanian officials continue to carry out at the expense of their citizens’ national and democratic conscience. Those delegations were made up of killers, and in no case can killers bring their victims back. May 5 cannot at the same time bear the importance of remembering those who fell for the nation and the shameless parade of the perpetrators of the crimes that created martyrs. Fatos Nano, Skënder Gjinushi, etc., and their predecessors have given Albania more martyrs than it needed. With the guns they kept raised against democracy for 55 years in a row, the martyrs never stopped coming, until communism went as far as an armed revolution and the destruction of Albania in its ugliest name and guise. Nano, Meidani, Gjinushi, Çeka or others have no right whatsoever to go and honor the victims of Cerrik, the victims of Ura Vajgurore, those of Levan or Vlora. The martyrs created in just a few months are powerful proof that the government officials and others commemorating May 5 have not reflected, since their two ideologues and representatives are trying to present themselves as victims and even as martyrs. As for this repentance: the bullets they and their gangs used against Albanian citizens to seize the seats of power cannot be expunged by a visit to the families of the fallen. The punishment for those who created the martyrs must be much greater. If May 5 is not enough to prompt reflection, government officials can use every day to become at least aware that they cannot lay wreaths on the graves of their victims. Nano has a long history of creating martyrs. During his rule in ’91, more than 20 citizens were killed by the security forces, while the Shkodra massacre remains directly attributable to him and the people close to him who are now in power. The killings of Democrats in Tropojë and Levan weigh on Nano and the government he leads; in scale, they are just as painful and grave as those in Cerrik and Ura Vajgurore, or those in Vlora. Before the “Mother Albania” monument, Albanian government officials should be ashamed. They have violated their own symbol, dishonoring the Albanians who were killed by communist gangs, as well as those who drowned at sea while fleeing the war that today’s government officials provoked in Albania. Albanians today are mobilized on their own; today they are forced to make the government formally pay tribute to the memory of their own Albanian victims. History continually produces martyrs for Albania; those who create them walk away bearing the great stain of people’s deaths, even when such deaths are entirely unnecessary. Nano created martyrs to open the way for his own people, to protect their property, peace and the lives of their supporters. None of them fell at the border, but on city streets or at the thresholds of homes. The prime minister and his entourage of government officials and all the other hangers-on continue once again to seek martyrs, and with their tributes they also seek to claim May 5 for themselves.

Neritan Ceka, irresponsible in his role as Minister of the Interior, faces “RD” journalist Edi Paloka today ON PAGE 3 Why is the delegation of the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities coming to Tirana? A compromising program for the European delegation’s visit ON PAGE 2

Republican Çeku explains the suspension of funding for Albania ON PAGE 3 Berisha and other leaders of the PDSH paid their respects and laid wreaths at the “Mother Albania” Monument PD honors the nation’s martyrs PD Chairman Sali Berisha, accompanied by Deputy Chairman Pollo, Organization Secretary Bejo and Tirana PD branch chairman Karapici, paid tribute yesterday at the martyrs’ cemetery on the occasion of May 5, Martyrs’ Day. On behalf of the Albanian Democratic Party, the wreath at the “Mother Albania” monument was laid by PD Chairman Berisha and Tirana PD chairman Rexhep Karapici. Yesterday morning, PD Chairman Berisha, accompanied by Deputy Chairman Pol-lo, Tirana Mayor Brojka, Tirana branch chairman Karapici and Public Relations Secretary Minarolli, visited the families of Ymer Dishnica, Kico Ngjela and Spartak Delia, while Executive Committee members Azem Hajdari and Ylli Vesiu visited the family of Gjergji Mehmeti. PD Secretary General Ridvan Bode and Executive Committee member Lemin Gjana visited the family of Bujar Kaloshi.

Kinkel on the European military presence in Albania German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel yesterday declared in Strasbourg that EU or NATO forces could be sent to Albania, on the border with Kosovo. Kinkel said such a possibility is still under consideration by the countries of the Contact Group. At a press conference at the Council of Europe headquarters, Kinkel spoke of EU or NATO involvement within the framework of the Partnership for Peace. According to him, intervention by the EU or NATO would not be impossible, particularly given the continuing flow of arms between Albania and Kosovo. As for the presence of a third party in Albanian-Serbian talks, Kinkel said he could envisage a pair consisting of one European and one American. “For now, we have thought of Felipe Gonzalez,” the German minister said.

59 letters from dissident Havzi Nela, sentenced to hanging in 1988 by Fehmi Abdiu, now President of the Constitutional Court ON PAGE 7 PA NË DITË LUMNIE

Shkodra Democrats protest ON PAGE 2

Former President Berisha’s spokesperson refutes the newspaper “Zëri i Popullit” The newspaper “Zëri i Popullit”, dated May 5, 1998, published, on the orders of Prime Minister Fatos Nano, in capital letters the fabrication that Berisha is a shareholder in Hotel Rogner. The former President’s spokesperson states that the former President is not a shareholder in any public or private enterprise, Albanian or foreign, in Albania or abroad. Former President Berisha is the only politician who has declared his assets. He also invites all those interested to establish commissions of any kind to verify them. The former President’s spokesperson says that the fabrication by those who, to save their own skin, have bitten their brothers in the prisons of the dictatorship and who today are once again ready to bite someone else in order to lick the boots of their masters—those who have stolen millions from humanitarian aid intended for Albanian children and keep “Vlla e vllamën” in the capitals of Europe—shows, more than anything else, the contemptuous scrupulousness of the two sides together, beyond the beyond.

Yesterday’s roundtable of political parties on the problem of pyramid schemes. Photo: A. FUSHA