13/11/1997
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Republika

13 November 1997

The angels of Otranto in Paradise, the devils of politics in Hell

Brindisi, flowers and tears. The Labëri mourning shakes Italy 52 coffins from Brindisi arrive in Vlorë

Albania in mourning for its tragic fate

Albania sheds tears for its tragic fate. Pain has taken hold in the chest, ever since March, the fateful day of Otranto. Today, the grieving mothers await the lifeless bodies, enclosed in coffins. How long have the tears been streaming down their furrowed faces? What unhealed longing in the hearts of mothers, sisters... A longing with longing twists hidden in the chest, expressed in tears. Wound upon wound in the mothers’ hearts. Vlorë today, in the early hours of the morning, awaited the lament. They came, those whom cruel fate drove from their homes to cast them into the depths of the sea. The poor mothers’ children, infants, angels, brides who never knew marriage, young men who never became bridegrooms... What a dreadful fate! What a painful tragedy. Today they came, the sons of mothers. The good ones of Albania. They have travelled eight months across the sea that swallowed them so treacherously. Today they came, the forever innocent. Who knows how tired they must be. It has been a long time since the angels “slept,” life in the open sea for months and months. They must have been thirsty... Today Vlorë will weep its pain in lamentations. Flowers are too few to soften the grief. Tears will ease the souls of the living. At the funeral ceremony there will also be those politicians, guilty and innocent alike. They too will lay flowers on the coffins, perhaps they will even cry. But nothing can soften their careerist guilt. They, angels and devils, who learn nothing from tragedies, will once again be divided between their human being and their being a blameless politician. Inside them, for a long time now, the twisted game of the armchair has been played, a game that leads us only to tragedy. Thanks to them, in Albania, within us, life dies miserably, and sometimes death lives... It lives, and bares its teeth at life. And they, our politicians with anointment, who raise themselves up as monuments to memory, continue not to feel the pain of their state career, at times even demonic, even when the name is "The Otranto Tragedy". Today the pain of Vlorë is the pain of Albania. The angels of Otranto today fly to paradise, while the devils of politics head for hell.

Interpol on the trail of Agim Shehu. Film tape arrives

Page 2

NEWS

Uncle and nephew die in Durrës The Prosecutor’s Office at odds with the Court over the Cërrik monster Pages 6-7

ECONOMY

Bankers: PD destroyed us, PS gives us the runaround Arapi accuses Malaj Pages 6-7

"REPUBLIKA", Sami Frashëri Street, near the "Petro Nini Luarasi" gymnasium, Tirana. Account No. 986/110, Tregtare Tiranë Bank. Tel/Fax (+355 42) 259 88 Tel. (+355 42) 230 90

POLITICS

"The Alliance" breaks up the government coalition Parliament rejects the President Pages 3-4

CULTURE

"Albanian Oscar" gathers the VIPs in Switzerland Page 13