The beginning of the new year was accompanied by a new rise in prices. Thus the Meksi-3 Government begins the year just as Meksi’s previous government began it, unwittingly predicting that the end will be the same as well. But meanwhile, the new rise in prices is one more fact in the endless litany of facts proving that the Democratic Party does not know how to govern Albania. Discussed and given more than enough—what is it, after all? Is a 30 percent rise in fuel prices or a 40 percent rise in urban bus fares really such a big deal? But there is a simple logic to it. The rise in fuel prices directly affects the chain increase in prices across all other sectors. Because traders are not so foolish as to pay the costs of transporting goods out of their own pockets when they have the buyers’ pockets to turn to. Nor do traders or bread producers transport flour for free. The buyers will pay, and they will also have to bear the rise in the price of electricity. Because buyers are docile, the Meksi Government raises prices as it pleases, speculating on the nobility of the buyers and making their cost of living heavier and heavier. Correspondent of “Zëri i Popullit”

EVENT OF THE DAY: Yesterday, the meeting of the Democratic Party parliamentary group continued for around six hours without interruption. It was a continuation of the meeting held on Monday, December 30, of last year, whose subject was the debate over lifting the immunity of MPs and former ministers Rexhep Uka and Genc Ruli, following the Prosecutor General’s request to do so. The Parliament chamber where yesterday’s meeting of DP MPs was held was surrounded by a large number of police officers, in addition to the parliament building’s regular guards. The large police presence and their motor vehicles could not be explained simply by the presence of President Berisha, who remained at the meeting from beginning to end. Reliable sources from the meeting said after it ended that it had been marked by a heated debate among the MPs, following the material presented by the Chairman of the State Audit Blertim Çela on the walnut case, for which Ruli and Uka are accused. The debate took shape along two main lines, represented by two groups of MPs. On one side were MPs defending the fight against corruption, aligned with President Berisha. On the other were MPs calling for the fight against corruption not to be abused in particular political cases. Criticism of Berisha at this meeting was harsher than ever before, the source reports. Messrs. Ruli and Uka tried to present themselves as innocent in this case, while Blertim Çela told the BBC after the meeting that the State Audit had continuously followed the walnut case and had lodged six protests with the Prosecutor’s Office over the delays in examining it. The consequence of the division of DP MPs into two opposing groups at yesterday’s meeting was also its final outcome: the meeting decided to ask the Prosecutor General to provide clear explanations to the Mandates Committee on this matter, after which the Committee would decide whether to submit the matter to Parliament. The meeting decided to ask the Prosecutor General to do so or not. This will show the strength of the two DP factions, first of all in the Mandates Committee and later, perhaps, in Parliament as well. Thus, in the coming days, the struggle between the two groups of DP MPs will focus on each side recruiting more members to its ranks in the Mandates Committee and in Parliament. In this way, the struggle may emerge from the DP’s backrooms and become public, leading to a definitive split in the DP parliamentary group. Correspondent of “Zëri i Popullit”.

A regular minibus trip from Peshkopi to Tirana, whose fare had been 3,000 lekë for a year, reached 4,000 old lekë in the first days of the New Year. The bus owners on the same route are also charging passengers 500 old lekë more. It is worth noting that the first “passengers” of this year under the Meksi government are the people making these trips, who account for most of the passengers heading to the capital in recent days. The rise in passenger fares has resulted from the increase in the price of diesel, which has raised the cost of a journey by more than 30 percent. This is expected to be reflected immediately in a substantial increase in the prices of other goods, especially food products, fruit and vegetables—products that come entirely from abroad in Dibër. In Peshkopi, the price of one litre of diesel is 40 old lekë higher than its price on the other side of the state border, in Dibër e Madhe, Macedonia. All of this weighs on the shoulders [ku[r]izin] of the residents of these areas, already bowed down by deep poverty. ABDURRAHIM ASHIKU

The Mjed–Koman telephone line had miraculously managed to survive. But a few days ago, its destruction began too, with both the wire and the poles being stolen. This line served communication between Shkodër and Koman, and vice versa. The remote mountain area of Shllak also communicated through it, since its direct line from Shkodër had been cut for some time. Now it can communicate neither with Shllak nor with Koman. Thus, thousands of residents of this area are left without telephone connections. The wire previously laid along the line now being destroyed is estimated to have been 200 km long. As the main line is being destroyed, the same fate is befalling the lines between the villages connected to the Koman exchange, as well as the lines serving the police post and the Koman hydroelectric power station. Yesterday we went to the PT directorate in Shkodër to find out about efforts to protect the telephone lines. Employees of this service told us that Telekom had repeatedly been forced to ask the internal security authorities to identify and catch telephone-line thieves. But, according to them, assistance in this case has been lacking. At the internal branch, we were told that the police had not properly carried out the protection of the telephone lines, because they could not cover this service as well. Telekom—after all, millions of lekë were once spent on these lines through the people’s labor. Telekom is not a luxury, but telephone lines; these latter are at risk of disappearing without a trace. It was pointed out that those who have information must report the thieves so the police can arrest them. Yet the line continues to be stolen. Until it is decided who will protect these essential lines—especially when remote mountain areas are being isolated—the theft will continue. MUSA KURTULAJ

The way MP Pëllumb Malaj behaves in the district of Librazhd has long been a topic of comment among the town and village residents. It is not only his trips through the villages, accompanied by 10–15 cars, police officers and SHIK agents, that provoke laughter, but also various scandals such as when he orders traffic to be stopped by the public order department simply because their car has overtaken Mr. Malaj’s car (?), his [bor edhë turliume] and his saying, “I have a long arm.” To tell the truth, the “long arm” of the honorable MP has reached everywhere in Librazhd, but for it to reach Prime Minister Meksi too seems unbelievable. Nevertheless, one must believe that even extraordinary things have become normal for these times. On November 1 of this year, I was informed of Mr. Meksi’s decision that I should begin work as secretary of the Përrenjas Commune, nominated by the communal council as a non-party member. I began work with dedication, but, strangely, on December 8, again by Prime Minister Meksi (Continued on page 2)

• The police catch the thieves; the investigation service and prosecution let them go. Theft, such an ugly phenomenon in our society, is unfortunately becoming a worrying problem in the district of Kurbin, where residents have traditionally regarded it as a serious blight on decent life. Recently, private shops have been robbed, particularly in the town of Laç, where more than 16 cases were recorded during only the second half of last year. The same has happened in the town of Mamurras, in Milot, and in some village in the Highlands of [sic]. But what has stood out and worried people a great deal lately has been the mass theft of small livestock from villages, particularly in the communities of Fushë-Kuqe, where there have been more than 10 cases in recent days, as well as in the Highlands area, where six [cases] occurred during the last two weeks of the month. An analysis of the 24 theft cases recorded over a two-month period shows that, during the first part of the year, shops in the towns of Laç and Mamurras were robbed. This has compelled the public order authorities to take action in response to the incidents in these two towns. Taking these examples as a starting point, the question arises: who is cultivating the ugly phenomenon of theft in the district of Kurbin? Tradition? Certainly not. Certain actions by the justice authorities are having a negative influence, creating, deliberately or otherwise, favorable conditions for theft. Specifically, there have been cases in which the police have acted to catch robbers, despite receiving timely reports. But generally, in such cases, the police have acted quickly; nevertheless, the investigation service and the prosecution have released them. And not just in one case. This has happened to several robbers in Fushë-Kuqe, Milot, Mamurras, etc. Here is an example from recent days: a group of robbers went to the village of Skuraj in the middle of the night and stole 19 sheep on Saturday (Gjovlin Noka). The police managed to identify the thieves. After they were detained, the prosecution released them. Such actions must under no circumstances be allowed to happen, especially when the laws are being flagrantly violated by the justice authorities themselves. Correspondent of “Zëri i Popullit”

According to an official report by the Bank of Albania, total budget revenues for the January–November 1994 period are estimated at 35,408 million lekë, or 21 percent of GDP. Against the 28 percent of GDP expected to be achieved under the Monetary Program by the end of December, actual revenues for the first half of this month show an increase in these revenues equivalent to one percent of GDP. In the revenue structure, excise should be mentioned; during this period, a decline in revenue was observed amid an unspecified increase in revenues and direct taxes, as a result of implementing a policy based mainly on domestic resources. According to this official report, the indicator showing the increase in tax revenues compared with a year earlier is 42 percent, while revenues from aid have fallen by 35 percent. (According to ATSH)

For information: Prosecutor General’s Office For information: Prosecutor General’s Office The media and Parliament Your refusal to provide us with the court file concerning the defendant Ko-stantinos Kallafatis is contrary to the law and to established practice. Nevertheless, I, as Chairman of the Court of Cassation, together with four of its legal inspectors, request that we be allowed to examine this file at the military prosecutor’s office and in the presence of the relevant prosecutor. If you refuse this request as well, then I am convinced that manipulations are being carried out with this file. The Chairman ZEF BROZI

Once again Zef Brozi goes on the attack. The Greek citizen (whom he is accused of releasing in violation of the law and through abuse of office) has been sought by the police, since they have repeatedly tried to obtain his signature, with which he conducts business in Albania involving other goods, particularly food products, fruit and vegetables, products which [The text appears corrupt:] it gives the impression that Brozi will be able to [—]. It was precisely after Brozi’s attacks that Berisha replaced Musaraj as Minister of the Interior, while apparently not preventing Alush Dragoshi (if he did not order him) from attacking the Chairman of the Court of Cassation directly, in the sense of [—] a rare leader on the High Council of Justice. Regardless of all this, and notwithstanding the hammer of the court, the Albanian opposition now knows clearly who the people of the Democratic Party are. The expression “alë stanë te bulmet ka” is telling. The ballot boxes are “the only way for the DP to escape” total disintegration, toward which the corruption that has gripped it by the head and is suffocating it is pushing it inexorably day by day. Its honest members have understood this. ARBER SALIKO.

The interview Filip Çakulli conducted with Viktor Margilaj, now Prefect of Durrës, on the television show “A City’s Cheerful Saturday” was surprising. The interview with the prominent politician Margilaj focused on Libofshë and the bloody events that took place there during the early elections for Commune Chairman. Accused of being involved in organized and disturbing crime, he claimed to have heard everything second-hand. The accused man brushed everything aside, turning it all into stale humor that infuriates you and reopens the crust over the deep wound, which for the people of Libofshë will never heal as long as justice has not had its say. If it does not speak today, it will certainly speak tomorrow. And yet the PD Prefect, Margilaj, makes fun of this issue, which is so sensitive for the people of Libofshë and Fier. He did not stay in Libofshë; everyone knows that now. The criminals are known, and so are the victims. By an irony of fate, on that cheerful Saturday in the capital, Vukaj of the Albanian Parliament and the compromised Viktor Margilaj were interviewed one after the other. I do not know whose idea it was to turn that horrific event into such a big joke. [Corrupt text:] The “democratic” state itself organized it, and therefore could not condemn Libofshë. Precisely because Libofshë was not condemned, DP militants organized a campaign to approve the Constitution, full of other Libofshës, which the PS denounced in detail during the interpellation with Minister Musaraj. The Socialists’ tolerance cannot go so far as to abandon Libofshë. The opposition’s cynicism is intolerable. But how can Libofshë be condemned by Berisha’s regime, when the doctor himself called the bloodied and stolen votes there “flowering bricks” on the altar of his stained democracy? Since the President speaks in this way, there is no doubt that the criminals of Libofshë feel like doves of peace. Yet these “doves of peace” were absent from the vote on the draft constitution, and 75 percent of Libofshë therefore voted a resounding NO. As for the fact that Viktor’s friends even brought their grandparents forward to be accepted into the DP, that now belongs only to the past. His friends have long since lost their feathers in today’s DP, which Viktor and his associates have torn to pieces. Meanwhile, nobody goes near Margilaj’s luxurious café in the center of Fier, as if they were afraid of the [heqproza]. We wrote this short note to remind the Fier court that the bloodshed in Libofshë cannot be brought to a close with Margilaj’s “tasteless” humor on a cheerful Saturday organized on Sunday. VEZHIGUESI

An inspection carried out at the Trading Base Enterprise No. 2 in Vlorë, concerning the sale of kerosene to the population, confirmed that most of the fuel had been sold through smuggling channels for profit. For this reason, the dismissal and criminal prosecution of the head of the Finance Department and the saleswoman have been requested, the press office of the State Inspection Service reports. In 1994, of the 720 tons of kerosene sold, 562 tons were given to individuals without a licence, who also sold them without meeting their tax obligations. (According to ATSH)

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