Yesterday morning, the People’s Assembly approved the Law on Certain Amendments to the Decree “On the Right to Strike.” The debate focused mainly on the provision in the draft law stating that “A strike is permitted, but only before a collective agreement is concluded or its signing has been reached.” In their interventions, MPs Dokle, Abdiu, Llosi, Cani, Apostoli, Peshkëpia, etc., spoke against this provision, calling it dictated by the immediate needs of those in power. Namik Dokle emphasized that this provision conflicts with the law on Human Rights, which the President has submitted to us, because it restricts the right to strike. In his view, the right to strike should also be recognized after the signing of a collective agreement, in relation to matters not provided for in the agreement that arise as new issues in the workplace. He also called for the establishment of labor courts. Bashkim Çaka emphasized that although governments do not exactly encourage strikes, legislation must be modern; it must recognize the right to strike even after a collective agreement has been signed, because, firstly, the law does not prohibit agreements from being amended after their approval. Strikes are a powerful and democratic means of doing so. Secondly, the right to strike is a fundamental human right that cannot be restricted. The “European Social Charter,” adopted back in 1965, also recognizes this right after the signing of an agreement. Although we have not yet signed it, we have an obligation, arising from constitutional provisions, to respect such international conventions. Ridvan Peshkëpia gave Italy as an example, where strikes to renew contracts are frequent. At the same time, he spoke against banning solidarity strikes. In response to a question, the government specialist said that we would take the European Social Charter more into account later, when we sign it. On the other hand, the DP MP, Mr. Pepa, said: “The draft law presented serves the future.” Whom should we believe: the MPs and specialists mentioned above, who say that the draft law does not comply with the European Social Charter, or Mr. Pepa? If this law serves any kind of future, it is once again the future of those in power, not the future of democracy and Albania’s integration into Europe. As always, the majority’s voting cards did their work. BEQIR SKRELI

- North Korea has closed its borders, halting international flights and rail traffic. - Miterani’s proposal for a summit meeting of the ... 7 most industrialized countries was rejected by Japan. - Five American aircraft parachuted 34 tons of food and medicine into Eastern Bosnia. - Marshal Shaposhnikov declared that “The Army will not intervene in the problems between Yeltsin’s Congress, and the West can be calm: the nuclear weapons are safe. - Clinton, at a meeting with Haiti’s exiled president, declared that he would not support Haiti’s military government. - To ease tensions between North Korea and the USA, a high-level dialogue between the two countries is being organized with China’s mediation. - General Aidit declared that he would no longer continue peace talks until the international coalition had driven the forces of his rival, General Morgan, out of Çishimajo, (Somalia). - A right-wing extremist in Germany, who threw a bomb at a monument to the victims of Nazism, was sentenced to 5 years and 9 months in prison. - Fighting has resumed in Ahabzi between Georgians and Abkhaz separatists. - Regarding the Russian Security Council convened by Yeltsin, spokesman Kostikov said, “The political-social situation in the country was analyzed”; later, the Presidential Council also met. - Bosnian Serbs granted an amnesty to allow humanitarian aid to reach Srebrenica. - On Tuesday there was very fierce fighting on all fronts in Bosnia. Serbian forces are trying to advance. - In clashes with Islamic fundamentalists in Assiu (southern Egypt), 10 fundamentalists were killed and 35 arrested; 2 policemen were also killed. - So far, 220 people have died in the powerful earthquake in Morocco, which has caused damage that has afflicted the USA. Berzal will amount to more than 500 million dollars. - The New York [text unclear] peace talks between the PLO and Israel will make progress in the future. - The Arabs have strongly condemned this attack against Kuwait in New York.

- Says the faculty dean, Rahmi Korbi - Fifth-year students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Tirana are boycotting several exams in the subject of machinery. They took this decision in protest against the rectorate and dean’s office disregarding their request to organize a meeting with the students regarding the placement on the unemployment register of two faculty instructors: A. Bisha and Sh. Zeqja. The students had requested a meeting with the rectorate for March 17 at 12 noon, through a protest notice (No. 2) posted on March 13 in the faculty premises. Representatives of the rectorate and dean’s office refused to talk with the students. The faculty dean, Rahmi Korbi, told us that a meeting with a student delegation had been organized that afternoon. The rectorate’s position concerning instructor Sh. Zeqja, who had been dismissed, was made clear to the students. In their second protest, the students also raised the issue of another instructor who had been dismissed, A. Bisha. “We have no reason to discuss this issue with the students any further,” Korbi said. A notice from the fifth-year students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, dated March 18 and posted in the faculty corridor, announces that they are boycotting exams until our demand for the instructors’ return to work is properly and fully met. (Continued on page 3)

- The rector himself, Halil Sykja, confirms it - The rector of the University of Tirana, Halil Sykja, confirmed to us yesterday at around 12 o’clock in his office that he had requested to resign from his position as rector. When we asked him to comment on the report by the BBS correspondent dated March 17, stating that he was preparing to resign, Mr. Sykja replied: “It is not right to comment on this matter before it has taken an official form. There is some truth to it,” Mr. Sykja said. “The truth is that I have submitted a request to be relieved of my duties as rector, but I have not yet received an official response. I feel tired in this job and can no longer cope with the problems. I want to remain at peace in my work,” he concluded. These were the reasons the rector of the University of Tirana gave us for his request to resign. We too are honoring his suggestion not to comment at all on this fact, while reserving the right to approach him again when the matter takes official form. Mr. Sykja has not yet completed even one year in the position of Rector of the University of Tirana. H. JUPE

NATO Secretary General Manfred Verner arrived in Tirana yesterday afternoon for a three-day visit. Yesterday afternoon he was received by Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi. Manfred Verner has been an important figure in European and NATO politics over the past ten years, while he has been actively involved in German politics since 1960. In 1962, Mr. Verner was appointed parliamentary adviser in the Land of Bade-Wurtemberg. In 1965 he was elected to the Bundestag, where he remained until he was elected Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance. During his years in the Bundestag, he served as chairman of the Defense Group until 1976. Manfred Verner was Minister of Defense of the Federal Republic of Germany from October 1982 until May 1988. On July 1, 1988, Mr. Verner was elected to the senior post of NATO Secretary General, the position in which he is also visiting our country. Mr. Verner was born in Stuttgart on September 24, 1934; he completed his university studies in Heidelberg, Paris, and Munich. He earned his doctorate in 1958 with a dissertation entitled “On the relations between allied states in the field of Defense.” Verner’s visit to Albania is the first visit by such a senior NATO official since the creation of this North Atlantic military alliance. Before him, the Chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, Field Marshal Richard Vincent, visited Albania.

“You are not members of the DP or the Independent Trade Union...” - 20 kindergarten teachers in Berat are placed on the unemployment register and assigned to the most remote areas of the district, solely because of their political affiliations -

of society BERISHA To the Speaker of the People’s Assembly, Mr. PJETËR ARBNORI To the Prime Minister, Mr. ALEKSANDËR MEKSI TIRANA A group of representatives of the new owners who acquired property legally in 1990–1992 throughout Albania, gathered today, 17. 03. 1993, representing the interests of new owners not only in the city of Tirana but also in the cities of Durrës, Shkodër, Korçë, Elbasan, Pogradec, Lushnjë, Fier and Peshkopi, declare that the draft decision submitted by the Government to Parliament for approval concerning the return of properties to their former owners is entirely without basis for the following reasons: In 1990–1992, with the strong support of the trade unions, ordinary employees of the trade and handicraft sectors and industrial combines legally acquired from the state hundreds of premises, plots and units that had formerly been state-owned, along with thousands of others; some obtained loans, while others used their meagre savings, earned through their work, to set up hundreds of shops throughout Albania, making major capital investments. It seems entirely unjustified to disregard the interests of thousands upon thousands of ordinary employees who currently work in and manage these premises and who, for nearly three years, have stood as the country’s first practical example of establishing a market economy, filling it to the brim with p... and thereby deserving the right of priority. Should we not be concerned that the good work achieved by these owners over these three years is about to be undermined? Is this not the Government’s sole source of pride, compared with the restarting of enterprises, employment, emigration, housing the population, etc., where the Government has either not begun work or has only just begun? These thousands upon thousands of owners, in this way—

– 20 kindergarten teachers in Berat are placed on assistance and appointed of their party allegiance – As part of the administrative reform being carried out by Mr. Meksi’s Government, 20 kindergarten teachers from the city of Berat have been placed on assistance and appointed to the most remote areas of the district, at a time when many of them are on the verge of retirement. At the education directorate, the teachers were told, no more and no less: «You will be placed on assistance, under Article 24-a, because you are not members of the PD and the Independent Trade Union». In response to these politically motivated transfers, several teachers sent an urgent telegram to the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha. In essence, they are asking the President to intervene and annul this partisan decision. Mr. President, at your press conference you declared that the campaign of politically motivated transfers should not continue. Your instruction has fallen on deaf ears in Berat. Not only that, but new purging campaigns are being initiated at PD meetings and gatherings. Mr. President, your statements, which serve your credibility as well, should be accompanied by concrete action. What is surprising is that after your statement, instead of people not being removed from their jobs because of their convictions, the opposite is happening. Mr. President, ordinary, honest people belong to parties of all kinds; could it be that those at the grassroots are interpreting your statements in the opposite way?! God forbid! KADRI KUKA

When the local governing bodies were established in Berat, as in many other districts, the main problem that arose was the allocation of offices between the Municipality and the District Council. The problem was made much more difficult by the fact that the PD had won the former, while the PS had won the latter. To resolve this conflict, which the people of Berat could not settle among themselves by consensus, Prime Minister Meksi himself intervened. In letter number 2804, dated 30 October last year, he ordered that «the second floor, 10 offices, the third floor, 15 offices and one hall, a total of 25 offices and one hall, from the building’s southern entrance, shall belong to the District Council», while «the first floor, 3 offices, the second floor, 9 offices, the third floor, 8 offices and one hall, from the building’s northern entrance, shall belong to the Municipality». (Continued on page 2) ...precisely those former «servants of the people» under Enver Hoxha, who worked two shifts and made great sacrifices to earn 380 to 450 lek a month. Today they are the most fervent supporters of democracy, because they were the first to put the experience of private property into practice—the very thing the state was unable to do. The Government, Parliament and the President would be gravely mistaken if they identified this social group with a handful of red pashas, some of whom may also have benefited by exploiting the law. They should not «burn the quilt because of one flea», as the people say... If the Government, Parliament and President were to approve the law in question, they would win the confidence of a few quarrelsome former owners, but they would inevitably sow distrust among thousands of new owners, who today constitute a major, vital force in society. For this reason, approval of this law would also bring social harm that serves neither the nation nor the Government. We firmly demand that the Government and Parliament protect not only a small category of former owners at the expense of a powerful category of new owners, but protect both categories of owners by law without infringing on one another’s interests. This is what the law being considered today should be like, and it deserves to be approved. Article 12 and letter ç of Article 16 must be reconsidered in the interests of the country and social peace in Albania. We will pursue our rights by every legal means. We invite the entire democratic and opposition press to present our demand as one supported by the law of the democratic state.

To the President of the Republic of Albania, Mr. SALI BERISHA To the Chairman of the People’s Assembly, Mr. PJETER ARBNORI To the Prime Minister, Mr. ALEKSANDER MEKSI TIRANA