Albanians are alarming Europe The dreaded disease is coming Page 3

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EDITORIAL By Genci ÇOBANI 195 police officers killed in 4 years. Several times more have been wounded, and hundreds of others have been threatened with harm to their lives and families. Even the casualty figures of a war, in the true sense of the word, would “envy” such a tally at a time when, in Albania, most of them have ended up with a marble plaque above their heads and under the heavy weight of a state’s neglect—a state that does not know how (or want) to protect even those who protect it and are killed for it. If the record of their encounters with crime were to produce even half the results seen in Albania. “Crime is better organized and more capable than we are,” is something one routinely hears from many Albanian police and political leaders. And it is true. Most police officers have been killed during operations to capture criminals. Press reports and the accounts of police officers who survived also point to a lack of professional competence; accounts of the operations themselves show that the latter is still far from what is required, while the state merely takes note, collects and conceals figures, pays instructors brought from far away, replaces chiefs and lecturers at its academies and... once again counts the police officers killed. It goes, eyes brimming with tears, to the funerals, throws a handful of earth onto the open grave, offers condolences to the family, to a marble plaque above their heads and with the heavy neglect of a state that does not know (or want) how for it. It is pointless to try to argue what the public in a Western country would feel (the governments and leaders of which Albanian politicians often invoke), Albanian. And this to capture criminals. Press reports and the testimonies of the police officers who survived also speak of professional incompetence, at a time when crime, in addition to dedication—which ordinary police officers seem, for the most part, not to have lacked—also demands professionalism. The methods of killing and in its academies and... once again it counts the police officers killed. To mourn with tearful eyes at funerals, to throw a handful of earth onto the open grave, to offer condolences to the family, then to forget even the grave and... to appear concerned at press conferences, with the plaintive phrase: “Crime is stronger and more organised than we are.”

The state conceals the terms of the sale of the mobile phone company 1999. This goal has not been achieved, as AMC's subscribers number some 12,000 [May 2000] According to the Albanian government, no other cellular operator license will be given until the year 2002. Greece's Parliamentary Committee recently approved the appointment of Nicolas Manasis, currently COSMOTE's Chairman and CEO, as OTE's new Chairman and CEO. will be given until the year 2002 (Referring to the Albanian government, no other operator in cellular services will be licensed until 2002). This is the first concession the Albanian government has made to the Greek company Cosmote, one of the winning firms in Albanian Mobile Communication (AMC), during the negotiations the parties are holding these days. Page 9

Albania ranks first in illegal trafficking Mediu meets Shtudman “It is unacceptable that in the 21st century we should be dealing with the return of forms of slavery.” This is how Gerhard Shtudman, Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, described the international concern that Albania has now become a typical transit country for illegal trafficking. Pages 2, 7

The face-off Albania–Macedonia, “Conflict” on the table Page 4

Hundreds of children work for their protectors Page 17

How the “white gold” is being wasted Page 20

Today, at 11:00, at the PRSH Central Headquarters, the Presidium will hold a press conference