Tirana floods again. The manholes are out of commission ON PAGE 5

The former Minister of the Interior warns the justice system ON PAGE 3

The opposition will not accept Albania being left out ON PAGE 3

By Sami NEZA The message of US President Bill Klinton once again expressed the friendship between the USA and the Albanians; the highest point of this friendship confirms the close ties between the great country and government and the Albanians. Meanwhile, the US President’s absence from Tirana confirms the absence of this friendship with the government ruling Albania today. The distance the government officials have created from those who stood close to the Albanian nation in its most difficult days is another argument showing that the current state leader-ship is not only incapable of organizing the Albanian administration and fighting crime, corruption and smuggling, but also displays deep mistrust toward the most important halls of Western diplomacy. The government’s brief history of positions on the Kosovo issue, and the President’s public foolishness, place the Albanian state in opposition to the greatest issue of this period. It is not simply that Albania did not emerge as a factor in any move by Western diplomacy or NATO’s army. The Albanian government officials in Tirana themselves acknowledged this fact, without anyone having to tell them. But it is tragic for a state policy that, while not being a factor, wraps itself in that guise in secondary Kosovo issues, creating the image of a troublesome Tirana. A government that makes its own compatriots irrelevant—what can it be? Not being a factor in the problems of the country and of Albanians, of Albanians in general, means being left outside the nation’s needs, outside its interests and the challenges ahead. Yet although little was expected from official Tirana in the field of diplomacy, it was thought that it could do something in unifying the Kosovo factor. While Kosovo today has two governments, both in Prishtina, and had two groups within the UÇK, this is precisely the work of Tirana, which, through the resources available to a city in power, is trying to impose an ideology on Kosovo’s independence movement. A different approach to this movement would have yielded much better results; Kosovo would then have celebrated its first day of freedom united with its government officials, its president and its unified army, without the political stress and the complex of insecurity that war brings. Klinton’s affection for the Albanians and the esteem he showed for a suffering nation in the Balkans create a great contrast with the treatment given to the Albanians of this nation. If Klinton sends his best wishes to the Albanians and the people of Albania in a special message to the Albanian people, but finds no occasion to breathe a word for the Albanian government or its president, this means there is a great divide between Albanians and Americans, on the one hand, and Tirana’s government officials, on the other. Put briefly, the people did not know how to choose their leaders. The states that the Albanians showed before the whole world helped, for a time, to identify what was inhibiting normal development, the inhibitor of society’s civilization, democratic order and the rule of law in Albania. Klinton, Olbrajt, Kohen and other senior American officials could not visit the Balkan Cuba, the land of government gangs and government mafia, the land where politicians from the state—and the state itself—are governed by gangs.

Ambush with shells against an armored car; two young men killed. The criminals flee in an unknown direction ON PAGE 4 Stenkovec, Albanians welcome Klinton as a national hero Clinton, Hillary and Chelsea in a tent belonging to Albanian refugees at the Stenkovec camp in Macedonia

Stenkovec, Albanians welcome Klinton as a national hero

Today, at the invitation of the President of the Crans-Montana Forum, Zhan Pol Kaltero, the Chairman of the DP, Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, accompanied by the organizational secretary, Fatos Beja, is setting off for Crans-Montana. During his stay at the forum’s proceedings,

The DP Secretary General, Ridvan Bode, is taking part in the proceedings of the Steering Committee of the European Democratic Union, which is meeting in Paris to discuss the results of the recent elections and the victory of the people’s parties in Europe, as well as preparations for the conference of leaders of the member parties of the European Democratic Union, which will be held in early autumn in Berlin. The meeting is chaired by the president of the European Democratic Union, Sauli Niinisto.

The US president thanks Albania for welcoming the refugees from Kosovo. “The solution to the region’s problems depends on what programs we have, you” President Clinton announced an upcoming meeting of the leaders of the countries of the region to discuss future developments in the democratic processes. President Clinton called on all countries to detail their development projects for their own countries. Dr. Sali Berisha, accompanied by the organizational secretary, Fatost the forum’s proceedings, Mr. Berisha will meet with European politicians and senior officials. of the recent elections and the victories of the European Democratic Union, Sauli Niinisto. ON PAGE 3

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Berisha’s initiative welcomed by Martens and Mock Yesterday morning, the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, had a telephone conversation with the president of the European People’s Party and President of the Parliamentary Group of the European People’s Parties in the European Parliament, Martens, as well as with the Honorary President of the European Democratic Union, Mr. Alios Mock. In these conversations, Mr. Berisha informed these distinguished figures of his initiative to begin the procedures for the Democratic Party’s return to Parliament. Martens and Mock welcomed this initiative and congratulated Mr. Berisha on it, confirming their support for the Democratic Party in Albania.

Expanded meeting of the Tirana branch of the DP “The US solved a problem; they opened an era for Albanians and our nation, in which we have a future ahead of us, and we must choose it together with those who prove to be our closest friends, together with those who made the Albanian cause their own, simply because it was a just cause.” ON PAGE 2

Today, 285 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 insecurity in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. The former-communist government, headed by people who shield the criminals who took the life of the December Leader, shows Albanians that it has been and remains on the side of the killers, whose identities are known, but who are not brought to justice by those in power. Democrats and all honest, patriotic Albanians who stood with Azem Hajdari cannot tolerate kleptocratic indifference. The government must either apprehend the criminals and bring them to justice, or publicly declare that it itself committed the murder of Azem Hajdari.

Foreign bankers, customs officers and police officers to build Albania of the year ‘2000’ It is up to Albanians to demand a change of this government ON PAGE 3

The former Mayor of Elbasan, 1992–1996, “Meritorious Teacher,” “Torchbearer of Democracy,” and “Honorary Citizen” of New York, died suddenly of a heart attack. ON PAGE 8

Clinton, Hillary and Chelsea in a tent belonging to Albanian refugees at the Stenkovec camp in Macedonia