Among them, a police officer. DP: “They were our activists” Page 9

If you had told Albanians during the days of the March uprisings that Sali Berisha would neither be overthrown nor arrested nor disappear from the political scene, no one would have believed you. If you had told people during the months of this country’s greatest misery that, even after losing the election, Berisha would remain the opposition’s leading politician, they would undoubtedly have thought you were mad. Because anyone with a little sense in their head, in those days and even afterwards, would have thought that the man at the head of the Albanian state during the period when this country suffered its greatest collapse and most severe trauma would inevitably also bear the gravest consequences. At the very least, in keeping with the generous and forgiving nature of Albanians, this name would have disappeared from the Albanian political scene. But the exact opposite is happening. The man who demonstrated his inability to govern a state through five years of misery and dire economic conditions, the sectarian communist who for five years sowed nothing but hatred, the butcher[?] who did not hesitate to order the massacre or beating of the country’s leading opposition figures and the burning of the largest newspaper, “Koha Jonë,” the Nero of the Highlands, who thought nothing of sending Gazidede’s cohorts from the “North” to crush the “South” and then opening the weapons depots—this very failure as a state leader and power-mad maniac has re-emerged on the Albanian scene as a normal opposition politician. Indeed, every day he is increasingly calling for new elections, without which, according to him, Albania will have no constitution. Yet the greatest paradox is not that a failed megalomaniac has not given up his dream of power. No, the greatest paradox is that other Albanian politicians, including those with no particular list of sins behind them, and independent newspapers are treating this man as a normal person; they are even calling on him to sit down at a table with them, to agree to talks and national reconciliation! One of the realities of this country today is that there is no serious opposition. Berisha and the retinue that still trails behind him represent a clan and nothing more. You cannot hold talks on national reconciliation with a clan like this today, for the simple reason that we are dealing with a criminal clan. Nevertheless, the many people now calling for Berisha’s swift arrest as a solution to the damned political situation in which we are stuck also seem to be in a hurry. The greatest evil facing the Albanian state today is no longer Berisha’s ability to act, but the new government’s inertia: its failure to silence him through action, to seize the mafia-like hands that keep him going day in and day out, and to generate a genuine state out of this utterly degenerate one.

Page 2 Fier incident: manhunt launched for the murderous police officers

The Ministry explains the recent events P. 2

United Right press conference P. 5

Damage to the home of the well-known poet discovered P. 8

Investigations begin into involvement in smuggling P. 7

Gramoz Ruçi will return. Prela takes Lakrori’s place. The last anti-motion members are leaving Seven senior leaders expected to leave during January At least seven members of the Socialist Party’s Presidium will leave their seats during January, reliable sources inside the SP’s central headquarters said yesterday. While keeping their comments guarded, Socialist officials have been talking for some time about sweeping changes in the SP leadership. According to them, these will follow the 10–15% expansion of the party’s General Steering Committee at the National Conference on 20 December, when the body grew from 101 members to 123. P. 3