November 6 was bloodied. Mr. Musaraj still “knows nothing...” — Did the Minister want the beaten and bloodied people to come to Parliament? The interpellation with Public Order Minister Agron Musaraj, requested by the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group, aimed to shed light on the violence used by the police against members and supporters of the SP during the campaign for the Referendum. MP Gramoz Ruçi once again set out the issues on which the Public Order Minister could and should have provided explanations. The questions were clear and direct, making no assumptions about the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Order. In short, the question was: Did the Minister know or not know about the physical and psychological violence inflicted in several districts of the country by the police? And if so, what measures had he taken against the perpetrators, as the chief head of the Ministry of Public Order? It is strange, but it must be said that, as far as the bloody events of 6 November were concerned, almost everything had supposedly not happened. According to him, the public-order authorities before the referendum and during its proceedings had made a serious effort to maintain calm and protect order, people’s dignity and personal integrity. Indeed, according to the Minister, none of the analyses conducted for the period in question had revealed even a single instance of unlawful conduct! Meanwhile, even the minor incident which, judging from the Public Order Minister’s reaction, seemed not to have happened in Albania but in Honolulu, had nothing at all to do with his dictatorship, but with the local authorities. Did he perhaps want all those who had been beaten and bloodied by the police to come to Parliament so that he would be convinced? But the most scandalous statement was: “I say that the police maintained a dignified attitude.” In a way, he was asking Parliament, perhaps even Mr. Arbnori, to award them a certificate of honor for the sacrifices they had made to preserve the order of the dictatorship and for all those who had taken part in its defense. In the end, yesterday in Parliament the Public Order Minister muddied the waters and emerged without getting wet. [Fragment ends]

Speech by the Secretary General of the SP, Gramoz Ruçi Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members of Parliament! Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members of Parliament! The SP Parliamentary Group has requested that the Minister of Public Order, Mr. Agron Musaraj, appear before this Assembly for an interpellation and provide answers concerning numerous illegal and anti-democratic actions by the agency he heads. Specifically: 1. The SP Parliamentary Group wants to know why more than 85 percent of our requests to the public-order branches for rallies and demonstrations have received negative responses, preventing them from being held in designated grounds and squares known for public gatherings, while allowing them only in enclosed venues; and even when the police themselves have authorized the latter, the normal conduct of activities has been blocked and obstructed by the police themselves. 2. The SP Parliamentary Group, and not only it, wants to know why, at many gatherings with its members and supporters, known individuals and officials have engaged in illegal, anti-democratic and inhumane activities. — Have these people been identified? — Can you tell us what motives drove them to commit these acts? — What legal and administrative measures have the public-order authorities taken against the organizers and perpetrators of these acts? 3. Before November 6, SP premises, SP representatives in the Party, in local government and on the referendum commission were detained by several public-order branches, pressured and deprived of their liberty as citizens without any legitimate reason. — What measures has this Ministry taken to hold accountable the true perpetrators who enforce illegality in the name of the law? 4. On November 6, in several districts of the country and at many polling stations, physical and psychological violence was used in complete violation of the law, and the Referendum result was even manipulated directly by representatives of the public-order authorities. Are you aware of these cases, and above all, in whose name did they act? What measures have been taken against them? This applies especially to the districts of Mallakastër, Berat, Fier and Lushnjë. 5. Before, during and after the referendum, SP activists and supporters were detained by the public-order authorities for up to 48 hours, brutally beaten and mistreated, and administratively punished. How many of them are there nationwide? How do you, as Minister, regard this? If you consider these actions justified, tell us the reasons and legal grounds. If you consider them unjustified, tell us what measures you have taken to hold the perpetrators legally and administratively accountable.

I listened very attentively to what the Interior Minister, Mr. Musaraj, said. But I am surprised that he presented no arguments or facts before this Parliament on the basis of which he could and should have conducted the relevant analyses in order to hold violators of the law legally and administratively accountable. In our view, there are two possible reasons: either he does not know, or he knows and is covering it up. Whichever the reason, after this report it makes you, Mr. Musaraj, accountable. Before presenting the facts and arguments to answer the issues I raised at the outset, I would once again like publicly to maintain an insulting attitude toward the Albanian friends and people of goodwill who have personally experienced the thuggery of the police in many districts of the country. The question these honest people are asking is: All right, perhaps no information about the scandalous events reached Mr. Musaraj’s ministry—but did he not see the scenes in Vorë, Fushë, Sarandë, which his own RTV broadcast throughout the day in its news bulletins? Did he not read the reports published in the press about the massacres in Berat, Lushnjë, Pogradec, accompanied by photographs? It is a disgrace for a Public Order Minister, who claims to have taken the violence against his own citizens under his protection, to side with hooliganism. Nevertheless, all the worse for Minister Musaraj. All the worse, too, for Mr. Arbnori, who interrupted MP G. Ruçi while he was presenting the police massacres committed by Musaraj’s men. The police responded negatively to more than 15 percent of our requests… [Continued on page 3]

On Monday, the delegation of the Geneva Union Committee will be in Tirana — If there is still no response, the Nano case will be reviewed again in Madrid in March. — A delegation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union for the Protection of the Freedoms and Rights of Members of Parliament will arrive in Tirana on Monday, headed by the Chair of the Union’s Committee, Ms. Zhosi Mejer. On Monday, a delegation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union for the Protection of the Freedoms and Rights of Members of Parliament will arrive in Tirana, headed by the Chair of the Union’s Committee, Ms. Zhosi Mejer. After considering the most prominent issue in Albanian politics, the Nano Case, repeatedly at several of its meetings in Geneva, Paris and Copenhagen, the Union for the Protection of the Freedoms of Members of Parliament is finally sending a delegation to Tirana which, among other meetings, will also meet directly with Mr. Nano. Commenting on this visit, the Socialist Party’s deputy chairman Luan Hajdaraga, who headed the SP delegation at all the Union’s meetings, told the newspaper yesterday: “A delegation of the Committee of Parliament, headed by Ms. Zhosi Mejer, who is the chair of this Union’s Committee, will arrive in Tirana on December 19. She will be accompanied by an expert on issues— (Continued on page 2)”

— Statement by SP deputy chairman and parliamentary group leader Namik Dokle. Question: Yesterday the Albanian Parliament voted to put on the agenda a question session for Prime Minister Mečksi, requested by the SP group, while the strike entered its 13th day. Question: Yesterday the Albanian Parliament voted to put on the agenda a question session for Prime Minister Mečksi, requested by the SP group, while the strike has entered its 13th day. You were in Kukës and met with the hunger strikers. What did you observe? Answer: What did I observe?! It seems to me that you too are putting the question like some minister in the Meçksi government. What is making the situation worse is precisely the observation, which has no solution attached to it. The hunger strikers want a solution, not observations. They are fed up with observations, but lack the bread from their own land. They are “fed up” with Presidential Decree No. 886, which, even after all these months, has still not begun to be implemented. They are “fed up” with Government Decision No. 306, nine points of which are still on paper. So, to answer your question directly, I observed that the hunger strikers are entirely in the right, that they are very patient and tolerant, that they also understand the government’s real difficulties and have reduced their demands, and that they are now determined to put an end to the “observations” and achieve a final solution. Question: Given the bitter experience of the first strike, when violence was used against the hunger strikers and they later came out with President Berisha’s decree as a guarantee, what do you expect from this interpellation, and do you think these people’s demands will ever be resolved? Answer: It is a positive fact that we see no attempt by the government, or any of its segments, to use violence. Although one government representative threatened the hunger strikers that they would bring out the former prisoners—look, perhaps a few others have by now developed a certain skill: the people cannot be threatened with the police or with Shik. I also consider it positive that the Kukës MPs, after our meeting with the hunger strikers, joined our call to put an end to the situation facing them. The President was also right to take action. But, taking into account the bitter experience of the May strike, the great deception perpetrated by the government and government officials, and the President’s inability to set a decree in motion, I fear that the issue may once again get caught in the machinery of deception and delay. For me, it does not matter what Meksi will say in the interpellation that has been requested. I would accept his not answering me at all if he resolved the problems of the residents of those areas. That would be the best interpellation.

The Macedonian government bans the opening of a university in the Albanian language Will the President speak? We may be facing a difficulty and the outbreak of a conflict, or we may be facing the difficulty of an international spring in Macedonia. The opening or banning by the Macedonian authorities of a university in the Albanian language could be the cause; Albanians are demanding that it be established, with the relevant system and means, through democratic methods. The matter was brought to a head on July 16, 1994, and the Macedonian authorities responded deafly to the opening of an Albanian-language university. If the issue is to be dealt with in this way... [image text unclear] ... The Albanians and the other side. Tirana [partly illegible] ...

At the 49th Session of the UN General Assembly With 105 votes in favor, 3 against and 30 abstentions, the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly thus approved by a majority vote the Draft Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in Kosovo. It was co-sponsored by 28 states: Albania, Italy, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, etc. After it was presented, the United States, Canada, France, etc. also became co-sponsors of the draft resolution. The Russian Federation, Tanzania and India voted against; among the states that abstained were the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, etc. In their view, there is already a draft resolution on the situation in the former Yugoslavia, and there is no need to adopt another resolution concerning one part of its territory. The Third Committee recommended that the General Assembly adopt the resolution; this is expected to happen next week. This is once again an important moment. (Continued on page 4)

Shkodër - Malësi e Madhe While public opinion in the district of Malësi e Madhe was waiting to learn the mystery behind the disappearance of four residents of the village of Grizhë, who had been missing for 20 days, another painful and tragic incident occurred yesterday, once again in this district. The waves of Lake Shkodër swallowed the lives of 10 people. Fourteen people boarded a boat at 7 in the morning on the lakeshore near the village of Kosan pa Bazës to cross the border into Montenegro. After they had gone about 2 kilometers from the shore, the lake’s waves, raging violently in the strong winds, battered them relentlessly, swallowing the boat and, with it, the lives of ten people. The other four managed to survive by swimming and thanks to the help of a boat that happened to be nearby. News of this tragic and painful incident spread within a few hours throughout the Shkodër district and (Continued on page 2)

- The tense situation could get out of control - The hunger strikers will agree to a meeting only in Kukës. They demand that all their economic demands be met : - The flooded land must be recognized only as building land. - Compensation for the land in cash and with first-category agricultural land, - The loan must be paid in cash and only through the banks in the districts of Kukës, Has, Tropojë and Pukë, in the amount of 100 percent. - More than 100 hunger strikers and their supporters are also protesting against RTVSH. Their request has been addressed to the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, The Speaker of Parliament, Pjetër Arbnori, The Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Aleksandër Meksi RTVSH. On December 13, 1994, on the same day as our visit to the hunger strike, as usual we were watching the news on television, where we noted that the President of the Republic, at a meeting he had arranged with the MPs representing the flooded areas, had asked the Government to implement Decree no. 886, dated 2.7.94, “On the granting of loans to the flood-affected population,” which had allocated a fund of 200 million lekë to the National Housing Entity for the provision of loans, as well as established a government commission to deal with this problem. We do not accept being given unproductive and extremely poor land, such as in Beth Lushnjë, Durrës or another district. The land that was flooded must be given to us only as building land, on a plot, and not as agricultural land. On this basis, we demand land in the areas of Durrës (Xhafzotaj), Durrës-Vorë, Vorë - Tiranë and Fushë-Krujë. - We demand the loan in full, in cash, and Pukë. We will accept no other alternative. We do not agree to receive the loan through the National Housing Entity, since we will build the houses ourselves in accordance with the planning regulations and the laws of the state. - We will agree to any discussion about resolving our demands only in Kukës. We emphasize that our demands are purely economic and that we seek their resolution as urgently as possible. The situation is extremely tense and could get out of control. - We protest against Albanian Television for not properly covering the hunger strike and our demands. On behalf of more than 100 hunger strikers from Kukës The committee: 1. Jahir Trota, Rrasnik Oruci Fadil Shehu, Rasim Sopi 2. Etem Cengu Hysen Kabashi Haxhi Braha Kukës, December 14, 1994 still remained on paper. So, to answer your question directly, I would say that the hunger strikers are entirely right, that they are extremely difficulties and have reduced their demands. They are determined to put an end to the “observations” and reach a definitive solution. In this context, I would say that putting on the agenda a session of questions to Mr. Meksi, submitted by our parliamentary group, is a positive sign, but I do not know what Mr. Meksi will have in mind when he comes: will he seek to justify himself or present solutions?! As incapable as the government may be, it is able to solve this problem. Nev-

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