Prime Minister Nano met with the police chief yesterday Page 2

BY FRROK ÇUPI The extraordinarily hot summer of the penultimate year of the century may give way to an autumn that is just as politically hot. The autumn ahead will put some of our possibilities, opportunities and losses to the test. First, the coming autumn has already shown that we have not grasped the sense of political “seasons.” The Albanians of Kosovo, on the one hand, and we Albanians here in Albania, on the other, started the “engines” of our movements at the height of the political vacuum. The leading Kosovo politicians and their army thought they would start the war at a time when everyone (the world's firefighters and fire-starters alike) goes on vacation. That is where the first loss became apparent, one that Albanian politics was forced to make up for simply so that it would not be called “anti-Albanian.” The “nationalists” and “patriots” led their people into war in the hottest season, when there was no one to believe in or call, let alone join forces with. Now that autumn is coming, Albanians in Kosovo have nothing to harvest in the fields and do not know where they will shelter for the winter. Second, we had several opportunities to demonstrate peace and political civility. We emerged from the deepest crisis, caused by the former President and his clique, with the aim of restoring a normal situation. In fact, even the most critical crisis today cannot be compared with that six-year period when nothing was normal. Yet once again, the “tireless” instigators of the crisis managed to draw a group of politicians or citizens into their uproar. Had this passing summer severed the “threads” connecting it to the former President, autumn could have been normal. Third, all the events of the hot summer are expected to return on a global scale. The U.S. ambassador in Skopje, Hill, is going back and forth from Prishtina to Belgrade, from Belgrade to Ohrid, to show that his diplomacy is in motion. While all Albanians have been individually engaged throughout the hot summer, the world's superpower has been represented by just one man. The U.S. Embassy in Tirana, too, packed its last suitcases. What will the return bring? Will Kosovo's independence be placed on a higher pedestal, adorned with gold? By then, the UÇK, as you put it, will have suffered very heavy losses. Kosovo's renaissance will have become a problem for diplomacy... Thus, summer will give autumn a beginning—a different picture from the one at the outset. Instead of strength, a freezing of the life that has been sacrificed will be sought. Instead of normal life, the return of the refugees will be sought. Instead of confrontation in the country, the Albanian Parliament will seek to decide on the issue of providing shelter for refugees. There may be many cars on Rruga e Elbasanit, but few diplomats. The discussion about why the American diplomat left will have taken on a different meaning in people's homes. It could all bring developments to the political arena in the Bosnian style, where bombs are “imposed” as political formulas... In this, we will take up political formulas... In this, we will get many solutions, including hot ones, while “stitching together” the bread of the future.

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Page 4 Albanian police officers guarding the entrance to the US Embassy in Tirana. Photo: REUTERS

Hard days for Vehbi. He is in serious condition and has heart problems The boss of VEFA was treated in the prison hospital Isolated since midnight on April 28 in Prison No. 313, Vehbi Alimuçaj is perhaps going through the hardest days and nights of his life as a prisoner. Prosecutors directly involved in the investigation of the former owner of VEFA said yesterday that he has been ill for several days. Blood-pressure disorders and heart problems have led a team of doctors from the Prison Hospital to visit frequently the dark room on the first floor, where he has been living for more than four months. Page 9

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Weapons for the KLA seized in Italy Page 5

“Demon” now faces trial Page 6

600 foreigners registered Page 7