“He supplied weapons to the hotspots of wars in Bosnia and Rwanda. He fuelled the war by arming the sides” Page 2

BY ALFRED PEZA Are sporadic acts of terror, or a strategy extending beyond the interests of a political group seeking power, unfolding in Albania in recent days? It is difficult to give an accurate answer to this very complex question when all we know are a few statements by officials from the Ministry of the Interior and SHIK. According to them, terrorist groups from Islamic states and the international mafia have political motives and are interested in destabilisation. Achieving these aims would require much blood to be shed, and if things continue this way, the consequences are difficult to imagine. Meanwhile, after a long time, the US ambassador appeared again on TVSH, met privately with Nano, and the published information appears to have come from the CIA. Apart from the huge economic interests involved in illegal trafficking, what could bring together in our country organisations from Islamic states, the international mafia and political groups at home? In a widely discussed study in the US, Huntington argued, following the fall of the Iron Curtain of communist ideology, that the main source of conflict that would cause major divisions among humanity would be the clash between civilisations. Curiously, the dividing line between Western and non-Western civilisation begins at the border between Finland and Russia, cuts across Europe and ends a few kilometres above Albania’s northern border. Albania was included on the side of Islamic civilisation, whose boundaries coincide with the northern borders of Islam and the former Ottoman Empire. The war in the former Yugoslavia showed that this boundary was not merely a wall between different cultures, but also a line of enduring conflict. This was the time when Berisha brought Albania into the Islamic Conference. Investments originating from these countries were the only ones unaffected by last year’s unrest in our country, while Bashkim Gazidede, former head of the Association of Islamic Intellectuals, was leading the state-of-emergency operation. Reports from Turkey say that he has now taken refuge in Iran, within a network of Islamic strongholds and interests. Countries of this kind are involved—countries which, according to SHIK sources published in the press for days, “have links with terrorist and political circles in Albania”. In addition, the Ministry of the Interior says that the wave of terrorism “aims to protect the major interests of the international Mafia” in Shkodër. Unlike in Western countries, here a mafia-state had been established which, through the pyramid schemes of political parties, SHIK and the police, controlled, directed and collected the enormous revenues flowing from illegal trade in weapons, drugs, fuel and cigarettes. According to the mafiosi, this kind of organisation is typical of Islamic countries. In their view, the collapse of the state last March would also bring down the edifice of the Albanian mafia, which is seeking to create Islamic terrorist [groups] and r. If these claims are true, along with the statements by the government that certain political forces in the country are also behind the recent terrorist acts, then the picture seems to become clear: Albania’s conflict was being stirred up so that it could be turned into new frontiers of Islamic domination and, because of its geographical position, a powerful link between the mafias of the East and the West. All of this, perhaps, following the attention of certain political forces in power, and of certain political forces of the government,

State Secretary for Public Order Ndre Legisi

The northern city is terrorised. Attack on the blue uniforms Panic and confusion after the loud blast in the area around the building. Large quantities of firecrackers and explosive devices were thrown. An attempt was made to terrorise the Shkodër Police Station. The news that reached the capital late last night as the “blowing up of the Police Station” was clarified by the State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior himself, Ndre Legisi, who informed the public through ATSH that “in the city of Shkodër, at around 20:00, a large quantity of firecrackers and noise-making devices were thrown near the Police Station of this city.” P. 13

The “Hasani” draft law is removed from the agenda P. 5

Nano extends his visit to Macedonia by one more day P. 4

A flood of young people at the toxicology hospital P. 6

After the law comes the examination of case files. This is the only way to unravel the gangs P. 7

Arapi is preparing the draft decision for the unravelling of the usury schemes P. 15