Crime is continually on the rise in Pogradec, too ON PAGE 4

The farcical trial against the opposition over the “coup d’état” of 14 September continues ON PAGE 4

Interview with journalist Çerkin Ibishi, imprisoned in Sremonicë ON PAGE 8

By Shemsi PEPOSHI The talks between NATO and the Yugoslav army on the withdrawal of the Serbs from Kosovo were suspended and may resume. At these talks, Serbian interests are represented not only by the Yugoslav military, diplomats, and a team of experts, but also by the Russians, who have sent their representative to the meetings. NATO, which is preparing to take the place of the Serbs in Kosovo, through talks or war, is defending the interests of Kosovo’s Albanians. Fortunately for the Albanians, the world’s largest military organization and the most powerful countries in the world are on their side. Yet Albanians are not representing themselves at the moment when their future is being decided. Hundreds of thousands of boys and girls from Kosovo who have been killed and are being killed for Kosovo’s freedom have, unfortunately, none of their leaders or representatives at these talks. Their sacrifice naturally deserves representation, but there is no one to represent them. Their struggle, their lives, and their deaths have unfortunately been trampled upon, and continue to be trampled upon, by those so-called leaders of theirs who have set out across Europe and the world not to insist on being a party to the talks and being represented, but to mislead people and insult everyone they regard as a potential political opponent in postwar Kosovo. It is true that the war in Kosovo is being waged and will be won by the Atlantic Alliance. It is equally true that NATO is defending the interests of the Albanians with dignity and today is not merely their advocate, but is, as rarely in human history, committed with its full military, human, and diplomatic potential to defending their vital interests. The interests of the Albanians, for whom NATO is fighting, are values upon which Western civilization has been built and continues to advance, and this is the Albanians’ good fortune. Meanwhile, thousands upon thousands of boys and girls from Kosovo are currently in Kosovo, at NATO’s vanguard. But their voice is represented nowhere by those who claim to represent them. This is more than sad. It is not only Kumanovo, but earlier Bonn, and apparently, unfortunately, New York as well. Peoples have their histories of values and of efforts not only to survive, but also to resist. The Albanians of Kosovo have made history through centuries of resistance to national extermination. Generations upon generations have sacrificed themselves for this cause, and new generations in Kosovo have existed and survived by following the example of those before them. Today, at this decisive moment for the entire nation, the West has the Albanians as its allies and is defending them. Today, there is no longer any debate about whether the Serbs will withdraw or not. Today, it is Kosovo. Today, there is also no longer any debate about whether Kosovo will be an international protectorate. These and other questions have long since been answered. What the Albanians of Kosovo and their representatives must discuss is the dignity of a people. And a people’s dignity is determined by taking part and being represented there. A people’s dignity is not established through propaganda. No one has prevented anyone from representing Kosovo from the total trench, nor from driving the Serbs beyond Kosovo’s borders at any time. But perhaps the Serbs’ Albanian [sic] is not interested in the appropriate policy of interests in Kosovo, because along this road he has combed the beard of Rr. Rexhep Qosja, or on this mountain Hashim Thaçi has slept. The coming generations of Kosovo will have a history of today’s Kosovo, of the tragedy of an entire people and their efforts. So that this sin does not happen today, those who are to be written about should think greatly of their country and begin making history, making efforts to be written about and to be someone in that history of whom people can be proud. And so that people and Albanians of Kosovo may be respected by their descendants, the Albanians of Kosovo must make an effort to represent themselves in Bonn, Kumanovo, the UN, or wherever the interests of Albanians are at stake. Only the capitulation of the Serbs, without thinking on the part of those representatives. Only in this way will the blood of those who fell for Kosovo’s freedom be respected, and the next generations will matter in postwar Kosovo.

Ollbrajt mediates talks between the president of Kosovo and the political director of the KLA. In Bonn, a roundtable of Kosovo Albanian political forces At a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, Mr. Rugova stressed that he saw no problems between himself and the KLA representatives, since both sides support Kosovo’s independence ON PAGE 3

The DP expresses its concern over the continuation of Serbian bombardments in Has ON PAGE 2

Kumanovo, talks on the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops break down

Berisha’s proposal receives the approval of the councillors at Tirana Municipality A spokesperson for former President Berisha announces that yesterday the former President called a meeting with Mr. Kastrati, Chairman of the DP Councillors’ Group at Tirana Municipality. At this meeting, Mr. Kastrati informed former President Berisha that, following his proposal, a square in Tirana would be named “President Truman” and a statue of President Truman would be erected. The DP Councillors’ Group has prepared a draft proposal to name the square behind the National Museum after the great American national figure, founder of the North Atlantic Alliance, President Harry Truman, in support of the struggle of the North Atlantic Alliance, which under the leadership of the USA is defending a just cause, the Albanian cause.

The DP and LDK honor Kosovo’s martyred intellectuals The heroes and martyrs of Kosovo did not fall only for Kosovo and Prishtina; they also fell for Gjirokastër, Dibër, Tetovë, Shkodër; they fell for the right of Albanians to their lands, said the leader of the Albanian opposition ON PAGE 3

Bomb at the prefect’s home, a clan dispute within the governing coalition Sensational statement by the prefect of Shkodër after explosives were planted at his home ON PAGE 4

Official Tirana and the Serbs warn: Dushan Batakoviç reveals the rulers’ preparations ON PAGE 3

The DP condemns the government official’s show at Rinas and calls on the press to be impartial ON PAGE 3

Sulejman Selimi, head of the Kosovo National Guard, is hospitalized at the military hospital in Tirana The commander of the Kosovo National Guard, Sulejman Selimi, who for a time was Chief of the General Staff of the KLA, is being treated at Tirana’s military hospital, together with two other senior KLA leaders, Shkup Berisha and Sabit Mulgecaj. The three KLA leaders were involved in an accident on the evening of 3 June, on the road descending from Mount Dajti to Tirana, while travelling in their car, which was being driven by National Guard Chief Sulejman Selimi. A source at the military hospital in Tirana told the ENTR agency that Mr. Selimi is in better condition and was discharged from the hospital on Sunday, while the other two still have problems because they were seriously injured. Meanwhile, KLA Commander Hashim Thaçi is on a diplomatic tour of the West, where he has requested that NATO recognize Kosovo’s forces in Kosovo. He has spoken of the growing presence of the KLA on the ground inside Kosovo and is also seeking a Serbian aggressor.

Today, 269 days since the murder of the December Leader Every day that passes since the murder of Azem Hajdari, the symbol of the democratic movement and pluralism, proves the involvement of Fatos Nano’s government and those in power with him in the crime committed against him on 12 September 1998. The government is intent on ensuring that the criminals who took the life of the December Leader are not convicted; on the contrary, that they go unpunished. Democracy and all the Albanians who loved and honored Azem Hajdari cannot tolerate this crime under any circumstances. The government must either bring the criminals before justice, or publicly declare that it itself carried out Azem Hajdari’s murder.

visit: www.albanianonline.net (see page 5)