The American side has taken over the Albanian delegation, while the Europeans are wavering over the new proposal to put Russia first, in order to convince its “obedient” partner. The KLA doubts an uncertain tomorrow ON PAGE 2 By Arto BAZE Rambouillet, 22 February

Students: We will boycott classes until Kozeta’s killers are found ON PAGE 6

Kleanthi Koçi wounded by gunfire ON PAGE 4

By MARC BRAZE The diplomatic world of the contact group governments is holding marathon debates over the final text of the agreement for resolving the Kosovo issue, where two diametrically opposed political concepts are becoming ever clearer: one offered by the Western side, the USA, and the other by the Russian side. According to KLA representatives, there has been no concession from their side, as the Serbian side claims, but only a provision that has been added to the draft agreement of the talks on Kosovo. Instead of the Kosovo issue being resolved through a referendum for the people of Kosovo, it is now being resolved according to the will of the people. This means that Russia and Serbia insist that the word referendum should not even be mentioned in writing. The representatives of the Albanian delegation will not sign the final text if a annex on the military implementation of the agreement is not included and, according to the conversation I had with them, both the KLA and the LDK say that the text of the annex has still not arrived for discussions to begin. According to some diplomatic sources, who have stated this to journalists, the KLA and Rugova aim to avoid the presence of the UN in Kosovo. Instead, they want a NATO protectorate with a strong Alliance presence. This would genuinely bring peace and freedom to Kosovo. Serbian President Milutinović said that the military annex makes the agreement unacceptable for Serbia, because it infringes on the sovereignty of Yugoslavia. There has been much and often unsuccessful activity in the diplomatic offices of Rambouillet among American, Russian, and European representatives. By all indications, the American side is trying to persuade the Albanian delegation to sign the text of the agreement without the military annex, offering only a political declaration by the mediators, who would later work on military implementation. The Kosovo Albanians have not accepted this formula. Their refusal makes Western efforts much more difficult to avoid pushing the conference toward failure. Nevertheless, diplomatic sources say that new compromise forms are being considered. In this context, the idea has been raised that Russia should be put first in order to give guarantees to Belgrade, while the USA should remain the guarantor for the Albanians. This combination is seen as a possible solution, but not a certain one. Today, 164 days since the murder of the leader of Epirus The government protects the killers of Azem Hajdari ON PAGE 3

We will support only those decisions that correspond to the interests of the free Albanian people ON PAGE 3

The European Commission ignores the state budget after two years of silence ON PAGE 6

The government considers NATO’s presence in Kosovo a necessity ON PAGE 5

The government considers NATO’s presence in Kosovo a necessity ON PAGE 3

Today, 164 days since the murder of the December leader ON PAGE 3

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Hairdressers’ magazine! Just out and being distributed 25 January 1999 78 Albanian national television We invite active writers to the first national assembly Price [?] TELEPHONE No. unnamed, apartment, number 108, Entrance 10 STAR-RINGO BINGO SUPER BINGO among 28 super prizes with the winner winners of houses or vehicles at the editorial office addresses [?] numbers 51, 52 and 53 It came out on 25 February 1999 without much hope 79? Democratic Youth Forum Writers of the year 1999 [?] ON PAGE 8