. After that great bloodshed and human atrocity in Tropojë, the Government is showing that it has been placed in a double bind. On the one hand, it is trying, with little success, to establish control in an area where for more than two years neither the state nor the law has existed; on the other, it is covering its head with a sack to hide the fact that the perpetrators of the massacre, as in many other cases, were the police themselves. The entire impasse at the Ministry of Public Order over refusing to disclose the names of the victims and wounded, as well as the concealment of the fact that the “Valbona Bridge” incident and the killings in Bajram Curri were connected, were the clearest illustration of the predicament that has engulfed the state. The official information sources, aided by the pro-government media, tried the previous day to cover up the truth about Tropojë’s tragic story, even though there was no one left in Tirana who, just two hours after the massacre, did not know even the smallest details of what had happened in Bajram Curri. This loathsome attempt to conceal the truth in fact reveals the essence of the dramatic developments of the past three years in Albania’s northernmost district. The Albanian government tried, and is still trying, to conceal some shocking evidence: the people responsible for the most heinous crimes and killings, robberies and acts of violence that have shaken Tropojë in recent years are the police themselves. It is precisely for this reason that the Ministry of Public Order, aided by the pro-government media, “forgot” to mention the ranks of the police officers who drenched Tropojë in blood, which ranged from major to captain and others. Their “demotion” at a time when every man, woman and child in Albania already knows who Tropojë’s killers are reinforces the state’s own implication in the monstrous crimes that have taken place recently in Bajram Curri and its surroundings, and in previous years. The time has now come when no one can cover their head with a sack to hide the truth. From Fatos Nano, who put bandits in police uniforms to “maintain order” in Tropojë, down to the most junior official who tolerated their growing influence, they must now answer both for the blood of Bislim Hykes and Isuf Bashkurtit and for the dozens of victims of state violence and brutality in recent times at the country’s northernmost tip. All those senior state officials who claim to have no connection with the gangs must first answer why they turned a blind eye until yesterday to what was happening in Bajram Curri; and, by forcefully punishing the criminals, they must also prove that they truly intend to work to restore order in this country, where most of the “tough guys”—the bandits—are people in state uniforms. The grave incident in Tropojë once again showed the truth: nothing was exaggerated, as official Tirana has tried to characterize the opposition’s accusations against the government. The massacre in Bajram Curri refreshed our memory once again: nearly all the serious crimes in that area have been committed by people wearing state uniforms. If there has ever been a genuine gang in Albania, armed to the teeth and equipped with the most sophisticated logistical support, it was inside the police stations of Bajram Curri. And this painful example shows us once again how impossible it is to establish order in Albania, and why there are more victims now, when it is claimed that we live in peace, than in those bitter days of spring 1997, when most people openly carried weapons in their hands, but shot at one another more often. “RD”

The grave and chaotic situation continues in the district of Tropojë. RENEA forces have been unable to enter the city ON PAGE 2 Sources who do not wish to be identified report that 7 police officers were also wounded in Wednesday’s fighting. They were taken by Greek helicopter to Athens, accompanied by 20 others, whose names and positions are not known—

The Prime Minister: “September 14 is a consequence of September 12”

The group of terrorist majors, captains, and lieutenants in Tropoja has been stripped of every state function, since to their bosses they are a group of witnesses, while to the other government officials unconnected with them, they are a rival group of a rival state . PD: The Tropoja Gang Are State Terrorists

Pandeli Majko addressed chief investigator Agim Tirana with a request to pursue responsibly the case of the murder of MP Azem Hajdari The Democratic Party spokesperson, Edi Paloka, yesterday welcomed the position and request that Prime Minister Pandeli Majko addressed to chief investigator Agim Tirana, calling for the murder case of MP Azem Hajdari to be pursued responsibly. “September 14 is a consequence of September 12,” Majko said, addressing the chief investigator, who is seeking further arrests over September 14. Majko’s position is a positive step, but his request to Tirana may fall on deaf ears. Chief Investigator Tirana is one of those who, together with Chief Prosecutor Rakipi, were appointed to those posts not to prosecute criminals, but to protect them. It is precisely people of this chief investigator’s ilk, appointed to posts by Nano, who organized September 12. It is these same Klosis and Tiranas who are now preparing new criminal acts, like the one on September 12 of last year, and warning of new September 14s. The fact that Majko has thrown this very thing in Chief Investigator Tirana’s face is to be welcomed.

Two dead in violence in Kosovo Kushner mediates the Rugova–Thaçi meeting ON PAGE 6

An unsolicited reply By Mero BAZE Yesterday, the newspaper “Albania” devoted half a page of its newspaper, not counting Zëjai’s article, to rebutting 29 accusations against me which, as far as I understood, were an attempt to explain to the readers of the newspaper “Albania” who Mero Baze is. ON PAGE 4

Socialists lose a leading figure of the committees Yesterday in Roskovec, Fier, one of the most dangerous criminals in the area, known by the nickname “Qorri,” was killed. This crime figure was known for his involvement in the gangs that burned the country’s junag in March of last year. He took part in several murders and serious criminal acts that affected many cities in the south of the country during March 1997. The police provided no details about the circumstances of the killing of the criminal known by the nickname “Qorri.” In recent days, numerous killings have taken place between rival gangs, which the authorities explain using the term “settling scores.”

Today, 327 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 that of his successor in the crime that shook the entire Albanian world. The government of the former communists, having left the criminals who took the life of the December Leader free and untroubled, shows Albanians that it has been and remains on the side of the murderers, who have special privileges but are untouched by those in power. Democrats and all Albanians who loved and honored Azem Hajdari cannot tolerate this under any circumstances. The government must either bring the criminals before justice once and for all, or publicly declare that it itself committed the murder of Azem Hajdari.

Return to the land of our forefathers By Bislim AHMETAJ In all 479 articles of the Kanun of Lek Dukagjini, as well as in the appendices compiled by Shtjefën Gjeçovi, there is no precise definition of the family-hearth institution. The family-hearths were important, influential institutions. ON PAGE 7

Feature. And I have seen Kosovo myself By Fatos VLADI “The hardest thing for me is to encourage these children,” says Paul Dult-hunty, director of ADRA in Kosovo ON PAGE 8

Kosovo Serbs deliberately abandon villages with mixed populations Kosovo Serbs are deliberately abandoning villages with mixed populations The Bosnia enclave syndrome reappears ON PAGE 6

Shkodra, under the terror of armed gangs ON PAGE 2

The city where the rebellion is not “dying down” ON PAGE 5