“Further develop democracy and establish public order” — Page 4 “Further develop democracy and establish public order” Page 4

BY ARBEN IMAMI The publication of a working letter from Ambassador Everts, containing assessments, opinions and suggestions regarding the situation on the eve of the referendum, has caused a storm in S. Berisha’s opposition press. Thank God Berisha found out what Everts writes in his reports (although the way that letter was obtained was not very elegant, though by no means as low as the latest forgery concerning the Democratic International), while Ambassador Everts, through the press, is becoming acquainted only with the tip of the iceberg of the assessments that some Albanians make of him—and, ultimately, not with what they write about him in their internal reports. But let us return to the essence of the accusation: Everts is sticking his nose in everywhere and taking partisan positions, “pro-former communists and against anti-communists.” The presence of Mr. Everts in Albania, the presence of the OSCE in Albania, and the presence of the Council of Europe in Albania are indicators of an exceptionally unusual political situation here. They show that the Albanian political class cannot, on its own and without external support, fulfil its obligations to the Albanian people; that the Albanian political class is divided and so conflict-ridden that it seeks the legitimacy of its political positions outside its own framework, outside the framework of its own country, and inevitably calls for a judge—in this case, an international one—to settle these disputes. This is the Vranicki syndrome of Albanian politics. Recalling that this syndrome has appeared from time to time in the short history of the Albanian state, we should stress that it showed its full clinical symptoms on the eve of a civil war between the usurper of power and those he misgoverned. In March 1997, it was the Albanians who invited “Vranicki”—the intervention of the international community to resolve the conflict—not Vranicki, or later Everts, who asked to come to Albania to impose their rules. (Continued on page 4)

An Italian policeman holding a child in his arms yesterday in Brindisi, after two Albanian speedboats collided, killing 3 people and leaving several others missing Photo REUTERS

Meta proposes dismissing the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers — Page 2 The Deputy Prime Minister seeks the chief’s powers Meta proposes dismissing the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers Page 2 The Majko–Meta duo seems no longer to be working. A conflict has begun between the two over the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers. Meta wants the Prime Minister to appoint his own man so that he can control the Prime Minister as well, but Majko objects. Meta continues to insist, however, and the two have now spent a week discussing only the Secretary General. Majko does not categorically reject Meta’s demand to tie his hands, but opposes it very delicately.

The warehouses of the well-known firm in the south are targeted page 13

The city of Fier has now been identified as the place where the mafia prostitution network is organized, or as the city of “women’s export.” According to sources in the criminal police and SHIK, there are several networks in the Myzeqe city that operate in coordination with one another and recruit girls from all the country’s cities who go—or are forced—to engage in prostitution outside Albania, mainly in Italy. There are numerous cases of women aged 15–17 being abducted; after being “processed” in this mysterious city, they are sent towards the Italian coast in exchange for large sums of money. This has enabled the bosses of this criminal network to earn millions and millions of lekë, later building luxury motels or restaurants in Tirana or Durrës. According to a secret source in the Ministry of Public Order, the people organizing this trafficking have been identified: three are from Fier, two from Tirana, one from Durrës and another from Shijak. They operate in separate networks, but are nonetheless linked to Italian mafiosi. The Italian police have now provided the Albanian ministry with all the names and photographs of Albanians believed to be connected with this trafficking, in which Albanians rank second in Italy in the organization of prostitution. Agents from the criminal police have infiltrated the mafia network and uncovered how it operates, the names of the organization in the main cities, and their connections with a major boss in Tirana who spends half the day on the premises of the Rogner Hotel.