Exclusive for the newspaper “REPUBLIKA” Page 2

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Lottery winners will give their interviews in Tirana. On 1 September the issuing of visas begins Page 5

EDITORIAL By Nertian ALIVALI Dream of sovereignty The next tragedy in Otranto and the shocking consequences for Albanian citizens during the period of communism and the shocking consequences for Albanian citizens. This time a small inflatable boat with 49 clandestines on board has sunk together with 4 children. The image shown on Albanian screens, while the exoduses have long been publicly repeated, has drawn the attention of the whole public. This sad reality fills one with pain. We are not trying here either to analyze economic poverty or the motivations that lead to such paths. For a long time we have known what the stages of the solution are. The problem is another one. If we take into account the intensity with which today we are dealing with trafficking in human beings and other forms, and with public indifference toward this wound, we are faced with a staggering fact. Corruption at the top levels is collaborating with these bandit-like forms of exporting slaves. Left behind by the “fathers” after the free elections, this game apparently receives patronage and voices in the press of the trafficking spokesmen. This reminds one easily of Don Quixote's sword at the mill, as the boats return with victims. These grave hands have been shut with their bridge. All these cases, with negligible losses, would be handled in a completely different way if the state actually existed. There is no sovereignty in our country, there is nothing that is not stripped of deception. The government has not hesitated to openly declare itself powerless. We only need to recall the prime minister’s latest statement about not recognizing the results of the referendum that has just concluded.

Political tension brings consequences in the economy . Timber transport under tender in Kosovo, SAPA, and the ban on the construction of the Burgozhë gas pipeline, about which the minister of energy has officially stated that “it is an agreement” while the government has decided to denounce it as invalid, are the arguments with which Prime Minister Fatos Nano is thinking of driving all foreign firms out of the country. The latest to be “decreed” to leave are the SAMPA consortium and the English bridge-construction company “Mabey and Jonhson”. As an indicator of the connection with the Burgozhë bridges, about which the minister of energy has officially stated that he has an agreement with Italy, the statements of the prime minister go as far as ordering departure from Albania. Thus, together with SAMPA, senior officials of the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Energy state that after Nano’s order to break the agreement with the Italian government, what had been expected is now happening: all Italian firms are leaving Albania. Page 11

The false passport network is dismantled, 7 traffickers in handcuffs, among them also 2 police officers. According to sources from the Elbasan police station, the car in which they operated was blocked. Five people arrived at the police station and were arrested, among them a well-known member of the security forces. Later, after checks in the city of Berat, the car was registered in circulation and the real gang was uncovered. Those arrested are passport workers and editors. Page 9

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Ecology / Specialists raise the alarm Page 4

Ecology / Specialists raise the alarm Page 13

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