Intense fighting by the Yugoslav army near the Morini border crossing ON PAGE 4

Italian police arrest 5 speedboat operators from Vlora ON PAGE 4

By Astrit PATOZI The international reputation of the KLA suffered a serious blow yesterday, when its political director, Hashim Thaçi, saw his efforts to meet NATO Secretary General Havier Solana and General Uesli Klark come to nothing. The Atlantic Alliance’s spokesperson, Xheni Shel, ignored Mr Thaçi’s visit to Brussels, describing it as private, while confirming that he would be received only by low-ranking NATO officials. Just a few hours earlier, Thaçi himself had announced his meetings with Solana and Klark, which unfortunately remained merely an attempt. But if this can be called a failure by the political director of the Kosovo Liberation Army, responsibility for Hashim Thaçi’s fruitless move in the West must be sought beyond him. It is now widely known that his political mentors are in Tirana, and that they have advised Thaçi not only in recent days, but ever since the time when nobody knew the KLA director in Kosovo, let alone in Albania. This entire unnecessary demand by Mr Thaçi, ahead of meetings with senior Western officials, should be attributed less to his own elementary lack of political and diplomatic experience than to the official Tirana’s haste to present him as a hero, not only in Albania but also in Europe. Meidani, Milo and the senior Albanian officials who see Thaçi as their “student” and not their partner in Kosovo politics, advising him in the interests of Tirana’s political clans, have done greater harm to the KLA and, more generally, to the direction of Kosovo Albanians’ politics. Just one day before his visit to Brussels, Milo’s man in Paris, Luan Rama, took the initiative to arrange a Rugova-Thaçi meeting, to show that official efforts were being made to unite Kosovo Albanians’ political forces. The ambassador, who still has his French refugee card in his pocket, and his bosses in Tirana should have borne in mind that the President of Kosovo does not need his invitation to meet or talk with Thaçi, or anyone else. All the more so in this case, since it was Milo’s own man who “advised” the KLA’s political director, at his meeting with French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrin, to denounce and attack Rugova, calling him a man who represented only himself and his bodyguard. The issue here is not what Thaçi achieved through his aggression toward the President of Kosovo, but the seriousness of an important diplomatic meeting, since what may be grievances harbored by Meidani, Milo and their people in Paris are in fact interpreted as the KLA’s own complex. Imagine how ridiculous the man claiming to be prime minister of Kosovo’s provisional government appeared before the head of French diplomacy, given that Mr Vedrin has met Rugova many times in his capacity as the “moderate leader of Kosovo Albanians,” which in Albanian translates as president of the Kosovars. It is truly unforgivable that the KLA’s titanic efforts for Kosovo’s independence should be so badly undermined through the fault of Hashim Thaçi’s advisers—the very same people who will be held responsible not only for his diplomatic failures, but even for their involvement in the sabotage of the Rambouillet agreement, which worked in favor of arrangements by the Serbian army to paralyze the plan of the “pact” concerning Kosovo Albanians. And it is doubly regrettable that the KLA’s political director takes… … portrayed as complexes of the KLA itself. It would be better for him to claim to be prime minister of Kosovo’s provisional government before the French foreign minister, since Mr Vedrine “moderate leader of Kosovo Albanians”—which, in Albanian, was translated as “president of the Kosovars.” It is truly unfair so badly penalized because of Hashim Thaçi’s wicked advisers, who will try to blame not only his diplomatic failures, but even the delay in signing the Rambouillet agreement—which worked in favor of the Serbian army’s preparations to paralyze the plan for “reconciliation” imposed on political director is dealt this blow in NATO’s hall in Brussels, where one would at least have expected this to be the high point of his Western tour, because the Kosovo Liberation Army found it easier to knock on the doors of military officers than those of diplomacy in Europe and the United States. But the KLA, an important factor in the Kosovo Albanian question, and Hashim Thaçi himself, despite his lack of political experience, do not deserve such a blow. It stems not at all from ignorance, but from the official Tirana authorities’ eagerness to divide the protagonists of Kosovo politics. No one in Kosovo or Albania should contribute to dividing the KLA and Hashim Thaçi over their disagreement with the West, because that would be a loss for the entire Albanian cause. The only good that may come from this sad story is that Hashim Thaçi may become more determined to understand where the harm has come from and continues to come from. The KLA’s political director, whose position is higher than that of “prime minister,” as he prefers to be called, has no reason to serve as a puppet of Tirana’s communists and Kosovo’s old, bearded Marxists, who are exploiting his age and status for their own political interests. Mr Thaçi must become intelligent enough to understand that the KLA has no need for the support of people like Fatos Klosi, who promise help in the evening and in the morning tell the foreign press that the KLA is financed by the terrorist Bin Laden. With its official shenanigans, Tirana is playing a “historic” role in stripping the KLA of its importance, which runs counter to the interests of a great many Albanians. It is quite possible that, once back in their school, they will be taught serious lessons: by ignoring the advisers who tell him to trumpet important facts and replacing the strict protocols of Western chancellery offices, they may ruin Mr Thaçi’s upcoming visit to the United States as well. Hashim Thaçi and the KLA’s people have no reason to fall prey to the mafia clans in power in Tirana, nor to certain bearded and clean-shaven journalists in the Albanian capital who, out of sheer myopia, think that by glorifying him they are already forging ties with the future rulers of Kosovo, with the same servility they show toward the left-wing coalition government in Albania. The very same people who say Clinton has supported him have also been saying—through newspapers, magazines and television—that Clinton will welcome us. These are the same newspapers, magazines and television stations that yesterday in Albania promoted the leaders who supported Slobodan Milošević. And another day, when at least his age is taken as proof that he has no connection to the old sins of Tirana’s communists and Marxists, he should not listen to the diplomatic and political “advisers” of those who are steering him into their disputes. He should not listen to those who would unite Kosovo’s political and military actors. He should not listen to the sirens luring him toward their old habit of division, if he does not want to end up very soon like a squeezed lemon, discarded first and foremost by his “new advisers.”

The prime minister’s opponents in parliament can create an institutional crisis at any time. Serious legal violation in the vote on Minister Poçi ON PAGE 3

Prime Minister Bukoshi

Pro-Serb lobbies in Tirana mourn Milosheviç The pro-Serb lobbies of official Tirana were silent yesterday about prosecutor Arbur's decision to bring the Serbian dictator, Milosheviç, and his associates before the Hague War Crimes Tribunal. President Meidani was silent once again, just as he had been when the NATO bombing began, but the Albanian government, too, did not deign to welcome the decision—a step covered by every news broadcast and front page of newspapers around the world. At a time when there was not a single chancellor in the world who had not commented on the official indictment of Milosheviç as a “war criminal,” official Tirana, as if it were some country in distant Asia and not the Albanian state, mourned the Serbian dictator. It is pointless to think this was due to some sluggishness in political response, or [text unclear] distant and not the state of the Albanians mourned the Serbian dictator. It is pointless to think of some political-regime confusion, or any other reason to justify the absence—or, at best, the delay—of the Albanian state's response to Milosheviç's indictment. While even Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini has reacted, despite being accused on the front page by a pro-government newspaper of being anti-Albanian, official Tirana itself remains silent instead of welcoming Chief Prosecutor Arbut's decision. There is now no doubt that Medani's delay in welcoming the start of NATO's bombing of Serbia, and the Albanian state's generally vague responses, can be regarded as a consistent political line of official Tirana. The silence over Milosheviç's official indictment is the clearest evidence of this, and any response that may follow this brief comment will be nothing other than further proof that what we are saying is true. “Rilindja Demokratike”

Prime Minister Bukoshi inspects KLA troops

Today, 259 days since the murder of the December Leader Every day that passes since the murder of Azem Hajdari, the symbol of democracy and pluralism, proves the involvement of Fatos Nano's government and its successor in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. The governments of the former communists, which leave free and unpunished the criminals who [text unclear] the December Leader, show Albanians that they have been and remain on the side of the killers, who have names of their own but are untouched by those in power. Democrats and all Albanians who loved and dreamed of Azem Hajdari can in no way tolerate this guilt. The government must either catch the criminals and bring them to justice, or publicly declare that it itself committed Azem Hajdari's murder. Portrait of Azem Hajdari

KLA takes advantage of NATO airstrikes Pentagon: KLA has regrouped ON PAGE 2 Interview with Secretary of State Albright on the program “Taking Everything into Account” Albright: The Serbs' chance is to surrender Milosheviç to The Hague ON PAGE 2 Portrait of Albright

The Legalists and “Union for Democracy” sound the alarm before domestic and foreign public opinion ON PAGE 3

Agim Krasniqi meets the director of the Office for Central and Southern European Affairs at the State Department ON PAGE 2

The Pan-Albanian Federation “Vatra” calls for the unification of Albanian forces in Kosovo ON PAGE 2

Opposition: The gunfire must end ON PAGE 3

The KLA leader at NATO headquarters meets an alliance delegation, but not Solana and Clark ON PAGE 3

The Presidency of the Democratic Party is organizing, on Saturday, 29.05.1999, at 10:30, in the Conference Hall of the DPSh, a National Seminar on the topic “The involvement of local elected officials in assisting arrivals from Kosovo: problems, solutions, experience.” All chairpersons of district, municipal and communal councils, representatives of the political grouping “Union for Democracy,” chairpersons of the DPSh in the districts, as well as DPSh members of parliament, are hereby notified that their participation in the Seminar is essential. THE PRESIDENCY OF THE DPSH

The Committee of the Kosovo Journalists' Association in Albania, consisting of the journalists Fadil Gashi, “Rilindja”, Prishtinë; Margarita Kadriu, “Kosova sot”; Muza Kurhasku, “Koha Ditore”; and Seremb Gjergji, informs Kosovo journalists who were forcibly deported to Albania after 24 March that they should call this telephone number: 042 29800, to contact the aforementioned Committee. Calls may be made every day except Sunday, from 14:00 to 16:00.

If you would like to contribute money for the exhausted children of Kosovo, you may deposit your donation into account number 34220/00/0376 at “Dardania Bank,” in the name of the association: “Children of Kosovo, our children.”