OSCE Ambassador: It is time for them to reconcile Page 3

BY ARIAN ÇANI For more than two weeks, complaints from citizens about electricity and water have been growing in Tirana and throughout Albania. But is it enough just to complain? For those in power to do their job when there is no electricity in your home, you must not be a lonely, head-down crybaby. For the leaders of this country to rush to repair the blown transformer at Fierze, you must not show that you adapt so easily to every absurd situation that suddenly descends on your life. You must respond with wisdom and civic spirit. Otherwise—even when they couldn’t care less—don’t complain about those whom you dreamed of seeing in the seats of power. And so, at the end of this century, Albanians have still chosen to sit with their arms folded in the face of the absurdities of days that come and go whenever they please, taps that have now begun to rust, and roads that after a few weeks once again reveal their dark holes. You shout loudly, outraged that you can’t take a shower; you scream in pain from the open wound that still hurts after surgery in this maddening heat; you are disappointed by your favorite café, where the ice cream arrives melted; you rush out of your office because the air conditioner isn’t working; you boil with anger and quarrel with your family when you suddenly find yourself trapped at home: not even one shirt has been washed, because the washing machine can’t work without electricity. Aren’t all these things what so often make you say, “my life is being ruined”? And you always tend to blame them, THOSE IN POWER, who go on holiday outside Albania, who take their time and don’t rush to get some “damned” electric transformer back in operation, even if it is a gigantic dam. You vent your anger everywhere, in the corridors of apartment buildings, at home and in the cafés, loudly declaring that “this country is doomed never to get anywhere.” But you forget that this revolt is yours alone, and that the voice you raise does not cross the threshold of your home. How readily you obey when the left or the right calls on you to rush to the ballot boxes! Meanwhile, you have the steep hillsides with the rain, and the bottles and buckets in the corridor to secure that water—which, what’s more, comes out a suspicious color. And then you expect them, THOSE IN POWER, to worry about you, to hurry to bring you water and electricity, to be alarmed by the frightening conditions the heat creates in the dark rooms of hospitals. You hope in vain. The governments of Greece, Italy or France would surely pass on the price of gasoline or cigarettes with pleasure if the people of those countries sat with their arms folded, indifferent, or once again vented their anger privately in cafés. And for Albanian officials to do their job, your revolt cannot be an individual one. For them to stop experimenting with your patience, you yourself must take that patience further.

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American marines during the first maneuvers in the Adriatic Sea Photo: REUTERS American marines during the first maneuvers in the Adriatic Sea. Photo: REUTERS

The purge list had been drawn up earlier by Nano Teta complains to Mejdani Police changes discussed. No mass dismissals; there could be protests Public Order Minister Teta “complains” to Mejdani about the mass dismissal from their posts of local police chiefs, initiated by Prime Minister Nano, as well as the lack of prisons for those arrested. Yesterday at 12:00, the head of public order was in the President’s office, where, among other things, it is reported that the most pressing issue of recent days was also discussed: the movement of police chiefs. Teta is said not to have been entirely in agreement with what Nano decided, namely the mass dismissal of directors in the prefectures. P. 7

president Everts meets Ramiz Alia P. 3 Inhuman conditions, horror in overcrowded cells Prisoners are doused with water P. 9 The mystery of the Islamist solved: he had come to traffic [people/goods] The Frenchman was wanted P. 6