Greece has moved to the forefront, while Italy, the longtime friend, has slipped into second place For the first time since 1992, relations are almost at zero. Why is the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee silent? page 3

By ENKEL DEMI Mitrovica remains the Achilles’ heel of the Balkans. The tense situation there has put the peace enjoyed so far in postwar Kosovo at risk. Despite the arrival in the city of British KFOR troops and an increase in the number of police officers, the city is on the brink of explosion. The mass arrests of Albanians, the latter’s departure from the part of the city controlled by Serbs, and the apportioning of blame between the ethnic groups by the international community have had no effect. The determined Albanians demand a city shared by all, while the Serbs want a zone of their own in Kosovo. This is the heart of the conflict. It does not take much to understand it. Albanians have the right to live in their city as citizens of a normal Kosovo. Kosovo, as a republic, has the right to exploit the resources of this entire area and its industrial heart, Mitrovica. Therefore, the reaction of both the city as a locality and the political forces in Kosovo is entirely normal. The problem is how a solution will be reached. No one expects the Serbs to reach a solution peacefully. They have reluctantly brought to a close a war that ended less than a year ago. The Serbs will cling tooth and nail to their territories in Kosovo in order to have a chance of returning to the land they have dreamed of for generations. In this respect, Mitrovica is the right place to resist. Since neither side is showing any tolerance in this matter, the conflict could escalate further, even into armed confrontation. The UN, the international community and KFOR are wary of this scenario. If an armed confrontation begins again to liberate or lose this area for the Albanians, then the UN’s role as Kosovo’s peacekeeper is crippled. The UN fails as an organization, while the international community loses the war it won with bombs over Belgrade. The worsening situation in Mitrovica has raised a host of doubts and questions about the final resolution of the Kosovo issue. The first question: Should Kosovo immediately gain its statehood, so that this matter can finally be settled once and for all? The second question: Should the Serb areas within Kosovo be placed under a KFOR protectorate? The third question: Is coexistence between ethnic groups in Kosovo possible? It is difficult to find answers to these questions for now. Albanians have fought for a Kosovo of their own. Some, after a bloody war h[?] and have particularly embraced the formulas of civic tolerance proposed by the community. The Serbs cannot give up their last foothold in liberated Kosovo. So this issue remains to be settled either in favor of the Albanians, meaning Mitrovica remains undivided, or by allowing the Serbs to create a Kosovo of their own, even if small, but under their control. Who will win in this tangle? That is the final question.

Page 5 photo A. BABANI Meta and Robertson last night at Rinas

New World Telecom, investment blocked amid questionable interests Just three days before the American Secretary of State sets foot on Albanian soil, the government tells American investors “No.” The debate in Parliament two days ago, during an interpellation requested by Arben Malaj, chairman of the Parliamentary Economy and Finance Committee, with Mustafa Muçi, Minister of Public Economy and Privatization, may have seemed to pass without much attention in the media or other circles, but it did not go unnoticed in the offices or diplomatic chancelleries concerned with this issue. For the first time, the Socialist Party has openly come out against the government. It is all about American investment and specific projects awaiting the green light from the Albanian government. NEW WORLD TELECOM-Motorola, the American company now waiting only for the license the Albanian government must grant it to begin its 350-million-dollar investment in telecommunications, seems to be having a hard time with Albania. page 19