- This is another blow dealt by the state to Albania’s new capitalists. - The failure to broadcast on television the discussions about this very important law shows that the PD is afraid to appear openly before the people. This law will mean that no one will be secure in their property and home. - The PD and its government fear a referendum because they fear the people. - While recognizing the right to property, Albanian socialists cannot accept new expropriations, but demand that past injustices be redressed through compensation.

TODAY IN TIRANA Immediate response by the Association of Free Private Entrepreneurs of Albania to the draft law on the return and compensation of properties to former old owners. While yesterday Parliament, diminished because of the departure of the Socialist Party parliamentary group, continued approving the above-mentioned draft law article by article, hundreds of new owners of trade and service shops shut their shops in protest and gathered in front of the headquarters of the Association of Free Private Entrepreneurs of Albania. Yesterday, from 17:00 to 19:00, around one thousand new private owners had gathered at the “Internacional” hotel, near the aforementioned headquarters, awaiting the association’s decisions for the coming days. They said that around 70 percent of the trade and service shops in Tirana were also closed. They said that the only shops that had opened were those whose owners had not yet been informed about the association’s protest against the draft law. At the association’s office last night, after 19:00, we were told the same thing: the only businesses that would not take part in this strike were bakeries. According to the association’s leaders, the reason for this protest is that neither the President of the Republic, nor the Presidium of Parliament, nor the Prime Minister has responded positively to their repeated requests. We also learned at the headquarters of the Association of Free Private Entrepreneurs that the association has planned a protest demonstration today, 16 April, at 8:00, with all its members gathering in front of the association’s headquarters. An appeal from the association, sent yesterday to all the country’s districts, calls on all free private entrepreneurs in Albania to close their trade and service shops in protest for an unspecified period, until the draft law in question is annulled. A protest rally is planned for 19 April at 10:00 in front of the University of Tirana building, with representatives of the association from across the country taking part. For this rally, ... according to its leaders, the reason to its repeated requests, from 19 March through 15 April, to meet and discuss with them the privatization draft law that is about to be put to a strike. [Text cut off] ... were to be closed yesterday in Tirana. They said that only those shop owners who were still unaware of the association’s protest against the draft law had opened their shops. When we arrived at the association’s office at 19:00, we learned that on April 16 all the private owners belonging to this association would hold a general strike.

Statement by Academician Rexhep Qosja concerning the admission of Macedonia to [the UN] The admission of Macedonia to the UN, without examining its constitution, under which Albanians are recognized as having only human rights and civil rights, is a new injustice committed against the Albanian people by international institutions and forums. With this act—the admission of Macedonia to the world organization, while its present constitution is recognized—the political will, and this means the natural and national right of the historically oldest people, though numerically the second-largest in today’s Macedonia, is disregarded. The political justifications concerning its name sound like diplomatic acrobatics with a contrived effect and can be no consolation whatsoever to the Albanians. Macedonia becomes a member of the UN as a Macedonian state, while the Albanian ethnic and historical identity of more than half of its territory is completely ignored. Whether we like it or not, we are compelled to accept this: the admission of Macedonia to the World Organization without resolving the Albanian question of those who live there is the second blow, after the London Conference in August 1992, dealt to the Albanian question, the most complex and tragic national question in the Balkans. The new international border drawn between Macedonia and Kosovo, between Macedonia and Presheva, drawn as though Albanians did not exist on either side of it, is a new, tragic border through the heart of Albania. What some foreign officials, and especially some Albanian officials, are saying by way of consolation is nothing but political demagoguery, which can console only those who, even until now, have somehow been comforted by deceptions. The fate of the Albanians in Macedonia has been sealed as their conquerors wanted—those proven to be the Serbs and the rulers—[continues outside the frame]. Without the Albanian question of those who live there being resolved, this Albania. What is being said by way of consolation by some foreign officials, and especially by some Albanian officials, as their conquerors wanted, those proven to be the Serbs and the rulers—[text cut off]. [Other column] ...without the Albanian question in this state being resolved, which lives under shared sovereignty, the population in Macedonia [has a right/right is] the right of the Albanian people. [Unclear text:] It should accept the sovereignty of a state that does not recognize the rights for which Albanians are responsible in Macedonia. This sovereignty in Macedonia is not independent sovereignty with international subjectivity; without the Albanian question being resolved or at least linked to it, it is a tragic state of affairs. History. The admission of Macedonia ... [covered/cut-out section] First of all, it is important that at this political moment in the Balkans ... [damaged section] ... the Albanian [people/question], I am convinced, will judge this conduct harshly! It is clear that history is once again punishing the Albanian people because of the anti-historical conduct of its true political elite—its party-political elite. Delay is once again becoming a fatal determinant of the fate of the Albanian people—this time, and at this moment, of the fate of its people divided in Macedonia. I am not surprised, but once again I am disappointed.

On Wednesday, 14 April, the Minister of Construction, Housing and Environmental Regulation, Ilir Manushi, was assigned by the government to give explanations in Parliament. It is not known why this particular minister was chosen, because in fact the explanations needed to be legal—a criticism made by the deputies during the debate. Perhaps he was chosen because his department has been among the most successful in implementing the reform. It is well known that during this period not a single brick has been laid in state buildings under this minister’s direction. The housing problem, too, is being resolved through municipal decisions, putting some workers’ requests aside. [They] will go on strike. (Continued on page 4)

Yesterday morning, at around 11:00, the People’s Assembly began its plenary session in the absence of the Socialist group, which continues to boycott the Assembly’s proceedings. Some right-wing fanatics had hoped that the Socialists’ absence, which they so eagerly desired, would speed up the work of approving the 31 articles of the Property Law. The night before, 13 articles had been approved in haste, but at article 14 the saw had got stuck on a nail. With the Socialist group absent, the deputies in the chamber began squabbling among themselves. At last, it looked as though fortress number 14 was about to be taken as well. At the beginning of the session, the group leaders Ali Spahia and Teodor Laço asked for a short recess to reach a consensus. After a few minutes, they reached an agreement. In essence, this consensus concerned ... (Continued on page 4)

PROTEST BY THE WORKERS OF THE BANJA HYDROELECTRIC POWER STATION - The resumption of work at Banja is a lie. - If the demands are not met, the workers will go on strike. At last, the lies told by Mr. Moksi’s government about resuming work at the Banja hydroelectric power station have been exposed. Yesterday, at around 11:00, 300 representatives of the Banja hydroelectric power station staged a forceful demonstration, demanding jobs, a pay rise, decent living conditions and housing for the employees from the government and the Minister of Construction, Mr. Ilir Manushi. They had sought a face-to-face meeting with Mr. Manushi, but the minister was not there. According to his spokespeople, he was in parliament attending a question session. This lie reveals not only the true face of our government officials, but also their fear of the workers, who were insistently demanding their rights. What were the representatives of the workers and the Banja hydroelectric power station workforce asking for? According to our conversation with the chairman of the hydroelectric power station’s independent trade union, Mr. Gjon Kacori, the workers’ demands were for jobs, a wage increase—the current level of pay is ridiculous—housing, and special consideration for the conditions in which they work. The workers reiterated these demands from time to time at their rally yesterday, insistently calling for a face-to-face meeting ... (Continued on page 4)

- Scientific symposium in Tirana - Yesterday morning, a scientific symposium on the subject «The Kosovo Question and the Albanians in the Former Yugoslavia» began at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana, organized by the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Albania and the Academy of Sciences and Arts of the Republic of Kosovo. Researchers from all Albanian regions took part, as did foreign scholars from the Balkans and Europe. After several plenary sessions and the opening address by Dr. Emin Riza, the symposium proceeded in two sections. In around 24 papers and presentations delivered yesterday in the two sections by prominent researchers from Albanian regions of the Balkans, issues of the history, culture, ethnography, and economic and political development of Kosovo and other Albanian areas were discussed, from the Illyrian period up to the present day. According to the scholars participating in the symposium, this is the broadest and most in-depth scholarly event yet devoted to illuminating the history of the Albanian population left outside the present-day state borders of Albania. The studies present facts and arguments that refute the absurd Serbian claims about the antiquity of the Albanian population in the lands where it lives today. The symposium will continue today in separate sections. The newspaper will endeavor to publish some of the full papers and presentations in the coming days. Correspondent of «Zëri i Popullit»

The Association of Free Private Entrepreneurs of Albania calls on all the country’s traders: if our lawful demands for the annulment of the draft law that infringes our rights as owners are not met, all commercial premises are to close indefinitely. The Association’s Presidium headquarters, awaiting the association’s decisions for the coming days. The president of this association, Mr Qirjako Noti, and the secretary, Ms Engjëllushe Petani, told us [continues outside the frame].

NATIONAL LIBRARY A 3

We are heads of households, employees of the MRP Construction Enterprise, and, on the basis of proper documents, two years ago we were assigned to work, through voluntary contributions, on the construction of an apartment building at 1 «Vaso Pasha» Street, Tirana, so that we could have shelter. Despite the difficult times, the obstacles and hardships, through our sweat and by spending our savings, we managed to erect a shelter in which to live. In April 1992, the Housing Commission of this enterprise provided us with authorizations. Today, now that this building has been completed and we have moved in, two deputy ministers, Mr. Astrit Mehja and Hajri Mezini of the Ministry of Public Order, have appeared, demanding that we leave so they can move into these homes—homes on which, as we said above, we have spent a great deal of sweat and money from our savings. Such actions are acceptable even under the most totalitarian systems, but they cannot be allowed here, where democracy has been established—especially when we ourselves gave life to this democracy with our votes. When we ask the state itself for help, let them answer us by keeping five men and one woman, along with the employees of this enterprise, on Police Street for five hours. We ask the minister of this department for justice.