- Message from His Holiness Pope John Paul II addressed yesterday to the Albanian people via radio - With great love I greet the Catholic community of Albania, with the joy of ordaining the new bishops in the Cathedral of Shkodër. After a long period of unheard-of oppression, it can confidently resume its forward journey to build the Kingdom of God and for the benefit of all society. My thoughts go to the President of the Republic, Doctor Sali Berisha, [to?] the country’s high political and military authorities. To all of you I express my gratitude for the readiness you have shown regarding my pastoral visit. I send a special greeting to the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, as well as to the Muslim Community and all the citizens of the country, with the wish that my visit serve to strengthen the brotherly ties that have always characterized relations between the religious faiths. Thanks to the commitment of all people of good will, Albania will know how to face and resolve the difficult problems that lie ahead. Dear Albanian brothers and sisters— I come to you in the name of God; I come to pray with you and for you for a serene and peaceful future. Until we meet tomorrow! May God bless you! (Said in Albanian).

Fatos Nano declares: The incompetent rulers, unable to govern, even make trees pregnant As has been reported, a delegation led by the Chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania, Fatos Nano, went to China for a visit in recent days. It was invited by the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU). This association was established in 1981 and is led by prominent figures from organizations, political parties and other major institutions in China, such as the Standing Committees of the National People’s Congress, the Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Writers’ Association, etc. Its aim is to promote international understanding of China’s new realities, its vigorous and successful economic and social reforms, and its opening to the world over the past 15 years, while encouraging the development of China’s friendship and relations with many countries in Europe, America, Asia, etc. The delegation met and held talks with the Secretary-General of the Chinese Association for International Understanding, Prof. Shi Zhongbeng, and other senior figures of the association. At the meetings, information and views were exchanged about the association’s work to promote relations between the Chinese people and other peoples, and about China’s standing as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, in building a new international order of peaceful coexistence after the Cold War. At the National People’s Congress of China, the delegation was received by the Chairman of its Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Zu Liang. At this important meeting, views were exchanged on cooperation with foreign capital during the last decade of this century in China. He stressed the positive impact of stability and dynamic development in the Asia-Pacific region as a condition for China to achieve its objectives and become a developed country in the near future. The delegation returned home successfully. Cooperation with foreign capital has been, and remains, a visible result and an example for extending the socialist market economy throughout the country. In meetings with prominent figures and heads of institutions and companies in the city, as well as during visits to enterprises and various facilities, the delegation learned about the area’s rapid pace of development, ways of implementing the market economy and successful practices for opening up to attract foreign capital, modern legislation, workers’ social protection and improvement of their welfare, etc., as well as opportunities to develop trade between Chinese and Albanian associations and merchants. China is fully receptive to this. Everywhere during the visit to China, the PSSH delegation received a very warm welcome. The meetings and talks held, and the mutual familiarization with the new realities and conditions in both countries, created a solid basis for developing relations and exchanges in various fields of mutual interest. The PSSH delegation returned home after its very successful visit to China. At Rinas Airport it was welcomed by the Deputy Secretary of the PS—PSSH stressed its readiness and the need to develop contacts and cooperation among organizations, parties, associations and institutions in China and Albania, for the benefit of friendship between our two peoples and countries. Alongside the presentation of political developments in Albania and the critical situation in the Balkan region, the importance of China’s constructive and peaceful positions was emphasized, as well as [for this warm welcome that you give so powerful… The shared desire to develop bilateral relations at the parliamentary level was expressed, and to reactivate cooperation and friendship between the two peoples under new conditions. The Chinese dignitary informed the delegation about the proceedings of the latest session of the National Assembly of China and explained the importance of the decisions adopted for the second phase of developing the socialist market economy reforms and improving… Correspondent of «Zëri i Popullit» During its stay in China, the PSSH delegation held important meetings with prominent representatives of various Chinese institutions. It was received at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the Association’s Deputy Secretary, Zhang Xingshan, hosted a special reception in its honor. An important part of the program was a visit to the Zhen Zhen Special Economic Zone, where the implementation of reforms and cooperation between Albania and China were discussed. Deputy Secretary of the PSSH, Dr. Servet Pëllumbi, the Socialist Party of Albania’s Secretary for Foreign Relations, Bashkim Zeneli, members of the General Steering Committee of the PSSH and People’s Assembly deputies Leontiev Çuci and Anastas Angjeli, etc. Also present was the chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Albania, Tao Miaofa. Press and Information Office of the Socialist Party

Yesterday, spontaneously, hundreds of people gathered near the headquarters of the General Steering Committee of the Socialist Party and waited for the Party Chairman, Fatos Nano. Meeting and greeting members, supporters of the Socialist Party, young people, etc., Fatos Nano said: Thank you for the warm welcome you are giving me. This shows the confidence you have in the Socialist Party. I personally am very touched by this welcome, and I thank you as a brother and as a comrade. The visit of the Albanian Socialist Party delegation to China was very successful. No one can imagine today’s China as so powerful, modern and developed. We will talk and write about this. I heard from the comrades who welcomed me about the campaign that has begun here concerning “Levante Co” and the accusations being made against me as well. These are slanders in a continuation of earlier slanders and scenarios. It is clear: trees without fruit throw stones at trees bearing fruit. I am not worried at all and, as you can see, I am in a very good mood! Thank you. Goodbye. Correspondent of «Zëri i Popullit»

- The life of our correspondent in Dibër is threatened - - Medat Kaca, head of the financial police branch in the district of Dibër, goes to our correspondent’s office and threatens him: «I’ll blow your brains out». - Two days later, unexpectedly, our journalist is attacked by three men and struck several times with a rubber truncheon in broad daylight, in his office. On Friday, April 16, our newspaper published the report by our correspondent in Peshkopi, Abdurrahim A-shiku, «Why the gunfire in Zall-Dardhë». The report describes a serious incident that occurred in Zall-Dardhë, where an officer of the Dibër financial police fired directly at the Kukës-route bus, seriously injuring a resident of Zall-Dardhë. The report recounts how the people’s calm, restraint and tolerance, with the wise words of an old man, brought the incident to an end and prevented a grave tragedy. Medat Kaca, head of the financial police in the Dibër branch, instead of reporting this incident as an act alien to the mission of the financial police—a force established to serve the people and democracy in our country—acts in the opposite way. He goes to our correspondent’s office in Peshkopi and, with arrogance and overbearingness, after directing a torrent of insults at him from the vocabulary of thugs, on April 22, 1993, at around 12 noon, a young man enters our correspondent’s office while the journalist is working at his typewriter and unexpectedly strikes him several times with a rubber truncheon, in broad daylight, on the head and face. Together with other men waiting for him in the corridor, he then leaves; they all hurry away. Strangely, at that moment, the policeman who has guarded this building around the clock was not at the entrance. In connection with this serious incident, this verbal abuse and physical attack with a rubber truncheon, from behind, in broad daylight, at the workplace, the newspaper’s editorial office strongly protests and calls on the President of the Republic, Parliament and state bodies to protect the journalist from such fascist actions.

On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Democratic Party (PD) governing this country, it would have been normal to interview the prime minister, Mr. Meksi. But, by coincidence (to reveal the truth as it is—that this government has run Albania from an airplane), the interview with Mr. Meksi was held neither in his office nor at a construction site, but at Rinas Airport, at the moment he was leaving for America. And as he set off for this fairytale country (Continued on page 4)

Perhaps many people answered this question easily as they watched the actors in capital letters. Pope John Paul II, an eminent international figure with undisputed authority—and, indeed, with authority that cannot be taken away—a servant of God could only be a man like him; his mind and spirit have undertaken such a mission, and he now enters the long history of world theatre as the author of a play. Numerous films, in the most varied versions, have been devoted to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and his work; and this play by the Pope sounds like a message addressed to those people who hold him dear and wish to have someone alive who is even just a little like him. This was also one of the main reasons why the Shkodër Theatre, with director Tonin Ujka, decided to stage this work in honor of the arrival in Albania of His Holiness Pope John Paul II. Its premiere was given in Shkodër on 20.4.93 and, the following day, in Tirana at the National Theatre. But my question, who was “our Lord’s brother,” has to do with something else. The leading role was played by the talented fourth-year drama student Gazmend Gjoka, who, with his debut in a premiere and at the start of his professional life, achieved complete success. For the Shkodër Theatre this was one of its many events, and well-known actors such as Viktor Bruceti, Elez Kadria, etc., demonstrated their talent through their high-quality performances. But this time, the applause was mainly for Gazmend. With a beautiful voice and a face that warmed you with its kindness, complemented by his outstanding acting, he stirred an emotion in the audience that made them applaud many times during the performance, and certainly at its end. The success of a first premiere is a great joy for every artist setting out on his path, but I think that for Gazi, the performance of such a role as Adam in “Our Lord’s Brother” will be not only a major role for his future in the great world of art, which has only just begun to open up to him. ARIANA SEMINI Student at the Academy of Arts