A surprise among PS clans in parliament. The momentary solution wins Xhozi: The party and Dreni therefore honor Majko because they will share Koçi’s road

Gustavo Selva writes to the chairman of the P. D. parliamentary group, Cenc e Pollo President Rugova’s ideas are more widely appreciated in the West ON PAGE 2

By Albert STANI Even with the destruction of Minister Petro Koçi, the left-wing coalition is paying the price for Fatos Nano’s madness and total failure. At least since the second half of 1997, when the then prime minister, emerging from the offices of the PS after a meeting with the “commander,” issued the bombastic statement “we have a state, we have a government and we have a liberation army,” the Albanian left began its march down a one-way road. It is pointless to deny, with the greatest shamelessness, the existence of facts and evidence gathered by the press, but also by many Albanians, that after the “commander’s” embrace with the government, Albania has moved from one crisis to another, each deeper than the last. After its first peak on 14 September, unfortunately after 10 months, the country is now experiencing a second peak, dramatically in Kosovo, with the risk of turning into a boomerang for Albania itself as well. Everyone can see that we are dealing with a kind of strategic, “semi-secret” “coalition” between the “commander” and the Tirana government. For months and months, the “commander” and his people have been stubbornly and recklessly sabotaging the West’s efforts for a peaceful solution to the Kosovo issue and, with the same stubbornness, are pushing Kosovo toward total destruction. Meanwhile, the Tirana government, led moreover by some individuals with unrestrained personal and political complexes, is trying hastily to take Belgrade’s place in the role of destabilizing factors, openly challenging the most powerful Western decision-making centers. It is incomprehensible how the situation in Kosovo could have spiraled so easily and so dramatically without this silent partnership with Tirana. Nothing can justify the disregard for the Kosovo Albanian factor, its political and institutional alternative, nor the banal treatment by the Albanian government of such a delicate and fundamental issue in national history as the Kosovo question. Naturally, if we look at what has happened to our country after more than twenty months of the spoiled rule of this majority, you do not need much imagination to understand how destructive and endless their adventure in Kosovo would be. Perhaps no one more than the Albanians of Kosovo has experienced this incapacity and cynicism of the socialist government more fully and more painfully. Today everyone, though somewhat late, has understood thoroughly that Majko’s “olive branch” brings nothing but illusions and the daily loss of people and territory in Kosovo. I believe that international actors, who initially showed sympathy and patience toward a group of boys and girls who were politically inexperienced, are now also disappointed with official Albania. After twenty-odd months, it is clearly evident that with what today’s government in Tirana represents, one cannot go far. The recent troubles involving Minister Petro Koçi are themselves a meaningful symptom of the executive’s successive failures in many fields. Koçi is the latest victim, but not the last. This government no longer has any chance to save the country. Not even the left can help it anymore. The time is coming for Albania to be freed from it.

In an agreement with the unprecedented opportunity for Kosovo and in a confusing situation within the circles of repression of the international community ON PAGE 6

The PD branch in Kukës condemns the violence used by the police against its leaders ON PAGE 3

More than 120 emigrants are saved, mainly after the speedboat is damaged by Italian coast guards ON PAGE 2

PD chairman Besnik Mustafaj received the two Italian MPs Rogiani and Xhigareti ON PAGE 4

ON PAGE 7

ON PAGE 2 Berisha: This is what I think about the KLA The PD chairman writes to the editor of the London newspaper “The Times”

ON PAGE 4 The judiciary, under the control of Media and the PS Hoxha’s departure drags Shala, Sylejmani and the handcuffed Ahumi down with it

ON PAGE 5 Business trapped in a victim’s snare Clinton’s sex scandal becomes part of the crisis. Bill brings in two women for business and spying

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