Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), 98-03-28

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From: The Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) Home Page at <http://www.telpress.it/ata>

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

CONTENTS

[01] People commemorate first anniversary of Otranto tragedy

[02] Former minister faces hearing in military prosecutor's office

[03] State accords 5 million leks to commemorate Otranto victims

[04] Massafra designated archbishop of Shkodra archdiocese

[05] Kosova president urges much more from Contact Group

[06] SP urges rise of changes' curtain in government, denies govt.split

[07] SP says NATO's presence in region - an emergency

[08] RP asks parliament to consider government's foreign policy

[09] People commemorate Otranto tragedy

[10] Nano says Kosova issue more than ever raised for solution

[11] Nano says there are parties in Albania speculating about Kosova

[12] Greek embassy says number of returned Albanians is insignificant

[13] Greek parliamentary delegation to visit Albania on Sunday

[14] SOCCER: Results of 26th week matches of championship

[01] People commemorate first anniversary of Otranto tragedy

On March 28, 1997, 105 people fled the horrible situation created in Albania in search of a quiet and secured life.

89 out of 105 people, including innocent babies, women children, lost their lives under the wreckage of the rusted ship.

It seemed that this was what fate had laid in store for them.

A year later, the Vlora people curse those responsible for that unprecedented tragedy and wish such tragedy will never happen again.

The people will lay flowers in the newest parcel of the city's cemetery. A memorial has been erected there with the names of 57 victims and the words: "You fled the endless terror and they lead you to a dreadful end." ake/das/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[02] Former minister faces hearing in military prosecutor's office

The hearing was focused on the actions undertaken at that time by the Guard of the Republic and special forces, out of their competencies and arming of hundreds of persons by structures dependant on the ministry. ake/das/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[03] State accords 5 million leks to commemorate Otranto victims

Part of the fund was used for the victims' graves and the memorial erected at the new parcel.

The people of Vlora will pay respects to those who died and throw flowers at the sea. A peaceful rally will be organised and an exhibition with photos of the tragedy will be opened.

A drama "Away from Otranto" was expected to be played in the Vlora theatre.

89 people, including women and children, lost their lives on March 28, 1997 when their ship sank in the Otranto channel while trying to flee chaos in the city. /ake/mima/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[04] Massafra designated archbishop of Shkodra archdiocese

His Excellency Monsignor Angelo Massafra was born in Italy on March 23, 1949 in an Arbereshi family.

Massafra has studies laic and religious lessons in different institutions and in the highest education of the Religious Order of Franciscan in Puglia and was ordained officiant on September 21, 1974, in Lecce.

Monsignor Massafra has come to Albania in 1993 to prepare the new Albanian candidates for the Franciscan Order in Lezha. He has been a teacher of the seminarists until 1996, vicar of the Troshani chapel and other religious duties.

Monsignor Massafra is an Albanian national. s.s/mima/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[05] Kosova president urges much more from Contact Group

Speaking on the situation in Kosova, Rugova said that it continued to be increasingly grave and tense. The crackdown on Drenica was followed by another one in the villages of Decan, President Rugova said, urging a prompt stop of police and military operations against the civilian population.

As regards the statement of the Serbian bishop Artemie on Kosova, president Rugova said that he hailed every positive statement for a peaceful solution through dialogue to the Kosova issue.

"The will of the people is: Kosova - independent, free and democratic, " Rugova said.

He added that the Albanian side backed the attitude of the international community, the United States, European Union and the Contact Group for an unconditional dialogue with international mediation. But to achieve this, Rugova said, a great international pressure should be exerted.

Asked whether an unconditional dialogue meant withdrawal of police forces from the Drenica territories, president Rugova said that the Contact Group had urged the withdrawal of those forces and that was working to that.

He added that negotiations should be held by all means for a solution to that issue.

Referring to a request of some U.S. lawmakers for a ban on Serb military flights in Kosova particularly after the massacre on the civil population in Drenica, President Rugova said that the first sanctions foreseen by the document of the Contact Group was the arms embargo against Serbia. Other economic sanctions and a non-fly zone would follow, Rugova said, praising as very positive the request of the U.S. law-makers. pta/mima/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[06] SP urges rise of changes' curtain in government, denies govt.split

The SP Secretary General and head of the parliamentary group Pandeli Majko made public the request of the biggest coalition party in a news conference on Saturday.

"Nano, upon the SP request, will start negotiations and contacts with the coalition parties on changes because the ministerial posts are not permanent. However, these changes do not mean split within the coalition," Majko said.

He added that the programmes of the coalition government shared common points and that this coalition was the best contract ever reached after the June 29 elections.

Majko said that making the weaknesses of the eight-month governing public did not represent any kind of trauma and the coalition parties had welcomed that, despite "publicity words of a party representative, which have brought about problems in the press."

The high-ranking SP official said that the problems in the defence, the order and the customs houses will be publicly considered in a round table of the coalition partners. s.s/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[07] SP says NATO's presence in region - an emergency

"Without the presence of the NATO forces and particularly those of the United States, the stability in the Balkans will be weak," Pandeli Majko, the SP Secretary General told a news conference in Tirana.

The SP has urged since the outbreak of the conflict in former Yugoslavia the arrival of the NATO forces in Albania, which will help prevent a spillover.

Sabit Brokaj, the Albanian Defence Minister also expressed the necessity of NATO forces in Albania which will be not only a guarantee but also a witness of Albania's neutrality in the conflict.

NATO has planned to send military specialists to Albania, Macedonia in order to help prevent a possible spillover. s.s/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[08] RP asks parliament to consider government's foreign policy

The Republican deputy leader Maksim Begeja said: "I back Godo's request that the government should report in parliament on the Kosova issue because it is the parliament which defines our foreign policy."

Begeja expressed reservations on the decision of the Contact Group and said that the new one-month retrieve favoured the regime of Milosevic.

He considered the attitude of prime minister Nano in the Bonn meeting "a humility towards the international diplomacy."

The Republicans urged the present government to ask international organisations help reveal the truth on the Otranto tragedy of March last year and not leave it only on the competencies of the Italian government. s.s/pas/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[09] People commemorate Otranto tragedy

Hundreds of people were directed on Saturday at 9.00. a.m. at the harbour when the "Kater i Rades" ship left for Italy to lead dozens of people, who wanted to flee terror and thirsty for power, towards hope and better life.

Twenty four school-age students of the Ali Demi secondary School (that was the number of those missing) boarded a ship similar to the Kater i Rades and threw flowers in the sea.

Later, the people visited an exhibition with photos and things of the victims at the city's Historical Museum.

A memorial saying "They fled an endless terror but were led to a horrible end," was unveiled at the cemetery by the parliamentary Speaker Skender Gjinushi. s.s/pas/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[10] Nano says Kosova issue more than ever raised for solution

"I hold the most important thing has now been attained, and this thanks to the exemplary tolerance of the Kosova Albanians, to moderation and preservation of equilibriums the Albanian state has realised with tears in eyes and self-control," said Nano in his speech at a government meeting, right after his return from the Contact Group.

Nano said that "Milosevic, as it also turned out from the the latest meeting of the Contact-Group, has finally lost chances to be a partner of the civilised world".

"I hope March 31 closes every possibility for supplying Belgrade with arms. On this date, the U.N. Security Council will translate into a reality the arms embargo against former Yugoslavia," Nano said.

"At the close of the second four week deadline, European and U.S. organisations and mediators will complete the monitoring of what I am calling the hanging-process of Kosova".

"The monitoring, besides securing the information lacking from the terrain, will also enable the final solutions, which, by pressuring Belgrade, provide Prishtine and its politicians with the necessary space. Under these conditions I might convincingly say that a Bosnia type tragedy has been avoided."

Nano said that pragmatism and responsibility for tomorrow seems to have been converted into a virtue of national consciousness and phenomenon of long-term policy. "History will give us right that, in contrast with the Bosnians and Serbs, we are succeeding to save our nation hundreds upon thousands of lives."

Nano said further on that all national strategy should be designed to serve these human lives. Over the past years "when the whole civilised world turned off the taps of arms for the Serbian war machine, Albania of Berisha turned them on to create a pseudo-demo-nationalist cast, which, exploiting the Bosnian blood, created personal luxury and collective poverty". /s.s/pas/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[11] Nano says there are parties in Albania speculating about Kosova

"All parties in Albania have the right to maintain different stances, but we regret the fact that there are cases when theatre is played with Kosova," the Prime Minister's spokesman, Ben Blushi, told a news conference today.

Nano, himself, has pointed in his speech for the Council of Ministers to a 85-year-old dilemma on the national cause and the lack of a stragedy. According to the spokesman precisely this lack of strategy also explains Kosova's involvement in the political ploys inside the Albanian politics. /das/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[12] Greek embassy says number of returned Albanians is insignificant

The legalisation procedure, applied in the best way possible for the Albanian nationals employed in Greece, asks their separation from those trying to illegally add to those who are there currently, in this way complicating the whole procedure.

Based on the data, the number of the returned is extremely small, in comparison with the number of those who are currently in Greece (over 400.000), while the legal equipment with entry visas enables free communication between the two countries.

Both the policy of expanded legalisation, which is linked with the large number of Albanians in Greece, and the intensive economic and political cooperation continue at satisfactory rates for the benefit of the two peoples and the region, the press release of the Greek embassy concludes. /a.ke/das/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[13] Greek parliamentary delegation to visit Albania on Sunday

The Greek parliamentary delegation is headed by the former Greek Foreign Minister, Carolos Papoulias, who has visited Albania several times over the last years.

In Albania the delegation will hold talks with the parliamentary Foreign Commission and Parliament's speaker Skender Gjinushi.

It will hold separate meetings with President of the Republic Rexhep Meidani, Prime Minister Fatos Nano, Ministers Milo, Ceka and Brokaj and the chairman of the Democratic party, Sali Berisha.

At the end of the meetings and talks on Tuesday, at 10.00, the Greek parliamentary delegation will hold a news conference at Rogner Hotel. /s.s/das/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[14] SOCCER: Results of 26th week matches of championship

Tomori - Flamurtari 2-0 Besa - Laçi 2-1 Apolonia - Albpetrol 1-0 Bylis - Dinamo 0-0 Tirana - Elbasani 3-1 Skenderbeu - Shqiponja 2-1 Teuta - Lushnja 1-0 Shkumbini - Partizani 1-0 Sopoti - Vllaznia 0-1

Standings:

58 points Vllaznia

52 " Tirana, Partizani

44 " Teuta

42 " Shkumbini

41 " Laçi, Apolonia

36 " Elbasani, Bylis

35 " Skenderbeu

34 " Flamurtari

32 " Tomori, Lushnja

29 " Dinamo, Besa

28 " Sopoti

27 " Shqiponja

16 " Albpetroli /A.KE/lm/

From the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) Home Page at http://www.telpress.it/ata

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