Your Excellency Sali Berisha President Tirana, Albania Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) congratulates Your Excellency regarding your recent action concerning the four journalists. On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, Your Excellency pardoned Martin Leka, Aleksandër Frangajn, Shyqyri Mekën and Ilirian Zhupën. All four had been tried and convicted because of their work as journalists. CPJ wrote to Your Excellency on May 2, expressing its concern about the fate of these journalists. (Continued on page 4)

Confrontation with the people—a reflection of the relationship between today’s state and its citizens The news comes from the Albanian Ministry of Public Order: dozens wounded in clashes between police and citizens. Although the Ministry of Public Order’s reports on the consequences of such events are always minimized, the number of wounded brings to mind reports from war zones such as Grazhden or troubled areas such as Xheriko. But no. The event took place in Kukës, Albania. The roots of the shocking events in Kukës are already known. The problem was brought to light almost two years ago. Families displaced from the area flooded by Lake Fierzë are demanding compensation for their flooded homes and property. Dozens of letters, petitions and newspaper articles have been written about this; rallies have been held, attended by MPs and party representatives. Individual MPs have also raised the issue in parliament. Yet to this day no solution has been found. Several hundred families left homeless have moved into abandoned state or private buildings. All these families are unemployed, have no income and have no prospects for the future. Their problem is acute, and it would be very easy to resolve through dialogue and understanding. But the current government has shown no interest in solving problems using its now-familiar methods. That is why the Minister of Public Order, this symbol of today’s Albanian state, is everywhere. He has dealt with grievances against the authorities; that is what he did in the events in Laç, in the killing of Gjovalin Cekini in Kukës; just leaf through the newspapers of the last two years for a glimpse of the city of Tirana. Only great hardship forces these people to leave their lands in the north and sink into Tirana’s mud, with nothing but a piece of plastic over their heads. The confrontation between the citizens of Kukës and the police is a clear expression of the relationship between the Albanian state today and its citizens. Unable to resolve the country’s acute social problems through dialogue and understanding, the current government has given the Minister of Public Order, Musarai, full authorization to “resolve” these problems using his this symbol of today’s Albanian state, is everywhere. From the latest reports from Kukës In the last call the newsroom had with the city of Kukës yesterday, at around 19:30, it learned that the strike was continuing. Hundreds of people were gathered outside the building where the strike is taking place, including people from the Has district. Although they had learned via TV about President Berisha’s meeting with the four ministers and Prime Minister Meksi, and about the outcome of that meeting, the strikers are demanding that Prime Minister Meksi go to Kukës in person and talk with them. We are also reporting that, alongside the political forces, the Eurosocialist Forum of Kukës has issued a statement concerning the serious events in Kukës. The statement says that the strike is entirely economic in character and that the strikers’ demands are legitimate. It stresses that the people of this flooded area have no property of any kind and no work or income. Regarding the events of May 5, the statement condemns the use of force during the meeting—at around 19?—and the element of surprise. It says that this led the riot police to attack the people barricaded inside in a brutal manner. First they seized 75-year-old Hysen Halili and knocked him to the ground. The strikers immediately took steps to prevent the security forces from reaching him, closing the hall door. Nevertheless, the riot police carried out the order given by Mr. Musaraj. They broke the hall’s doors and windows and charged at those barricaded inside, creating scenes of a clash accompanied by blows, without regard for what was happening. The firing of weapons caused the clash to spread outside the hall as well, between the security forces and the people. The latter used all available makeshift means in the fighting between them and the riot police. (People found automatic-rifle cartridges in the hall and outside.) The gunfire wounded one person from the village of Manëz. Many people were beaten and 18? others were wounded, seven of them in hospital. At 17:00 on May 4: the strike ... seeing that the situation was worsening, a meeting was sought, but ultimately... residents of the area flooded by Lake Fierza are demanding compensation for their flooded homes and properties. Dozens of letters, petitions, newspaper articles and rallies have been produced on this issue, attended by members of parliament and representatives of political parties. The issue has also been raised in parliament by individual MPs. Nevertheless, nothing has been resolved to date. Are these families entitled to compensation or not? Only Parliament can provide an accurate answer to this question through an open debate. For it is not only the families of Kukës, but also residents of several other areas, where entire villages or towns were relocated because of the construction of major projects such as hydroelectric plants, irrigation reservoirs, etc. Alongside the area’s other economic problems, this issue too must be addressed seriously by the government and parliament. It makes no sense that today great efforts are being made to compensate the Greeks who were former owners and expropriated in the 1940s, while, on the other hand, nothing is being done to compensate those expropriated by the communist state in the 1970s and 1980s. All the more so when the facilities built in places such as Kukës are efficient and extremely important for the economy, both today and in the future. This two-year indifference on the part of the current authorities toward resolving such social problems led to the destruction of traditional Kukës. To understand the dire situation of the population of the northeastern areas, where of the country’s social areas, the current government has given Minister of Public Order Musaraj full authorization to “solve” these problems using his now familiar methods. That is also Albanian state, is omnipresent. There is so much discontent with the authorities, and he is present in the Laç incident, in the killing of Gjovalin Çekini in Shkodër, in the police demonstrations in Tirana to prevent Socialist Party rallies, in the killing of two soldiers in Peshkëpi of Gjirokastër, and in the latest incident in the city of Kukës. His biography is being enriched day by day with such exploits, without a hair on his head being harmed, because that is what the authorities who gave him the job want. The wounded people of Kukës, citizens and police officers alike, are the gravest accusation against the current government in more than a year. No alibi can save it from this accusation. The efforts of the Ministry of Public Order’s communiqué to uncover “enemies” in this case too, in the form of former communists or security agents, are as disgraceful as they are stale. “We have the situation completely under control.” President Berisha made this statement at the end of December last year. If the current authorities can ever keep the situation under control by “threatening” people with the name Musaraj, this shows that their time is up.

After two years of waiting for a resolution to their demands concerning land flooded by Lake Kukës, the villagers of the former village of Kenet finally began a hunger strike on May 1. On May 2, they were joined by all the other villages with flooded land, such as Gostilë Breg-Lum, Kryemadh, Kodër-Lumë, Bushat, Kulla e Lumës, etc., bringing the number of strikers to 200. Their demands are: payment of the annual rent for the flooded land; compensation for the flooded plots, buildings and homes; the organized relocation of families to low-lying areas; and long-term loans to build homes in places where they can be resettled. It should be noted that on May 4 the strikers were also joined by people from other areas of the district. That same day they entered the district council building and hall to barricade themselves in on hunger strike; they were strongly supported by state employees as well. In the late hours of the day, the number of people supporting the strikers increased considerably. At 17:00 on May 4, seeing that the situation was worsening, an unexpected meeting was arranged between the local authorities, the public-order authorities and MP Mustafë Mustafa, on one side, and the strike committee on the other. Two hours later ... Minister Musaraj declared before the representatives at this meeting that there would be no problem; meanwhile, it was jointly decided to call on the strikers to vacate the hall. In the early hours of the morning, everything took an entirely different course. Specifically, at 5 o’clock, after a brief interval (in the morning), Minister Musaraj had ordered the entry of the s* mission into the hall to remove the strikers. This order ... other areas of the district. That same day they forcibly entered the council hall. to call on the strikers to vacate the hall. While the clash was taking place between the security forces, the strikers and the people, Minister Musaraj was ... (Continued on page 2)

Berisha: Elements with Enverist beliefs managed to infiltrate the strikers and manipulate them for their own purposes. Sunday: Prime Minister Meksi meets with representatives of families from Kukës displaced by the lake. Correspondent of “Zëri i Popullit” 20 May 1999

— The DP has released from prison four journalists who had broken Albanian laws — Edi P. says so; believe it, people. — “ZP protests the release of the journalists,” “ZP protests to defend the journalists,” “ZP... ZP has reason to be dissatisfied, since the release of the imprisoned journalists means that the prosecution authorities can appeal, through the judiciary...” “He, Edi P., who, when the ‘ZP journalists’ were calling for the release of Martin Lekës and Aleksandër Frangajt, published in huge letters in RD: ‘Tritan Shehu sues convicted Martin Leka for libel once again’; he says this. He, who, when journalists around the world Frangajt, together with a colleague of his, a ‘member of the Koha Jonë Journalists’ Association,’ shouts: ‘the biggest newspaper in Albania’; he says this, while the ZP journalist, like his anonymous colleagues, wrote against the libel law, writing ‘prison or a colossal fine, whe...’ This man is “unquenchable” in his inferiority complex. This makes him feel important; this emboldens him. Didn’t the woman who leads him, Edi P., “say” that Lutfiar Mato[h]i, in collaboration with Shyqyri Meka, wanted to kill President Berisha!!! Well, the lies have completely exploded!! Look! he says. “Even if the prisons are closed altogether, as long as the DP is in power it will still be a dictatorship.” Look where his mind goes. His courage takes his mind precisely where the Party does not. To close the prisons!!!? Then everyone will be bored, “we said, the language?!” Where will they put the four, bu... Note! P. must mean Palaka, in the title. EDI P. [the article continues in the left-hand columns; text partly unclear]

— TOTAL ISOLATION — Weak economic ties with inland Albania and the coast, owing to the great distance from these areas; the destroyed road network; the complete paralysis of the metalworking enterprises of Gjejan, Kalimash and Rexhepaj; the lack of emigration; spontaneous privatization; mass unemployment; and, above all, the failure to resolve the demands of 34 villages whose 1,400 hectares of land were flooded by Lake Fierzë—these are the fundamental causes of the strike. As such, it is simply economic in character. For a long time, the strikers, through the association of those whose land was flooded, have been making their voices heard before parliamentary and government bodies. But, as the facts show, up to now the government has remained indifferent, even though the local authorities submitted to the government commission established to address the flooding problems the list of those who must be relocated. Nevertheless, the organized relocation has not taken place. All the district’s political groups spoke out last year, and again now, in favor of resolving a range of problems raised by the association. The arrival of government ministers and their meetings with the strike committee, the local authorities and political groups is positive. But the fact that they have come only after the strike began, rather than meeting these people earlier, clearly shows that the government has not been concerned with these major problems. In general, at the meeting that continued until the middle of the night, the ministers’ position, especially that of Mr. Lulashi, was open, and they acknowledged the government’s shortcomings in this matter. However, apart from saying that some families had not taken part in resolving their demands and had not held meetings with the government, they ... were ...; after the intervention by the security forces, in the early morning, they forcibly removed the strikers from the district council building, treating it as an object of special importance. The manner in which these forces, brought from Tirana and commanded by Mr. Musaraj himself, intervened caused a ... between the two sides, in which people were injured; it greatly angered the residents of Kukës and the strikers. On May 5 in Kukës there was a ... of weapons by these forces. The Minister of Public Order himself bears responsibility for this incident; he had been told at the meeting to be careful not to use ... in Kukës, because problems cannot be resolved by force. Using violence against these people, whose demands are purely economic, is an anti-government act, since dialogue, resolving problems in a timely manner, constructive debate and transparency are the basic elements of democracy, not threats. We believe it is the urgent duty of the government, parliament and the president to find a solution to the demands of the people of the northeastern region and to hold accountable all those who use violence as their primary tool.

In a recent interview given by President Berisha to Greek television (broadcast in full by the television station “Antena”) about the latest events, Berisha said: “In the Balkans, no minority enjoys the rights and freedoms enjoyed by the Greek minority in Albania. They are ministers, members of parliament, professors, judges, and interpreters; their identity is entirely Albanian. The Albanian president explained: “It was not a political incident. It happened for security reasons. The police could not guarantee, with certainty and calm, that ... in Tirana when it left other citi- ... zens who are not of that religion, the Greek minority and police officers. The Greek government has no right to interfere in religious affairs in Albania.” President Berisha also spoke, among other things, about the calls broadcast by the radio station in Konitsa for the overthrow of the Albanian government. “If the Greeks are in the majority, there will be no problems between our two countries,” President Berisha concluded in the interview.

Last night, late in the evening, during an operation by the forces of the police station in Shkodër, five tanker trucks with license plates from Elbasan and Tirana were stopped on the Shkodër-Lezhë road, just after they had left Bushat. The drivers of these vehicles were made by the police to turn back