The Metallurgical Combine faces bankruptcy. The government is selling the raw materials to foreigners ON PAGE 6

Customs officers are rewarded for their merit in enriching those in power ON PAGE 4

The black file on Strada. Those who are in power today were yesterday calling for Parliament to be demolished and for the capital to be taught a good lesson SPECIAL FEATURE ON PAGE 5

“If the government does not reinstate the chairmen of the Korçë and Gramsh District Councils in their posts, opposition local officials will step up the protest” Berisha: The SP’s demand for local elections is a total defeat. The opposition will not back down in the face of government threats

The meeting of the Socialist Party’s leading bodies clearly revealed the crisis of the governing party, both from the standpoint of governance and institutionally. The SP no longer looks like a political organization, but rather an organization of personal interests belonging to the people at its head. These interests do not, taken as a whole, appear to be concerns related to the country’s institutional progress, but instead to the formation of a mafia in power, closely linked to the regional mafia from which it has been drawing experience. The ultimate aim is to build an economic hierarchy based on mafia practices, which would create economic power regardless of whether political power is in their hands or not. The meeting of the Socialist Party’s leading committee two days ago also unfolded along these lines, as did the position or debate over precisely the struggle by separate party structures to seize as much ground as possible in building this mafia-style economic power. Once again, the main figures in the debate were Arben Malaj, Fatos Nano, and the part of the Socialist Party left without political power. Despite the obvious attempts to withdraw from an open debate, what is boiling within the SP’s leading structures once again could not be concealed: involvement in smuggling and other economic crimes, profitable for all the parties operating differently from one another in political affairs. It seems that the debate opened in the press in recent days about smuggling has not been very productive; it has moved into a phase of discussions and agreements between the various parties, all of whom are interested and equally implicated in all the mafia affairs of this year in Albania. The silence of Zabit Brokaj makes this especially apparent, as does, to some extent, the silence surrounding the debate between Bundo and Sherifi with Malaj. Some time ago, the former Minister of Defence spoke of a mafia state being established; since then, dozens of corrupt criminal incidents and people involved in such events have been made public. Yet there has been no response from government leaders. But what is more? This faction, as well as the Sevçenatolizë team within the SP, is waiting for it. While this faction, led by the SP, previously put up a fight before the leading committee, its members, who had not previously been among those benefiting from smuggling or other economic crimes, went off topic by also discussing the possibility of new local elections. Deputy Jupë is a typical representative of this stratum, still waiting for personal advancement from his party. Naturally, within another faction, the issue is not only its peak of enrichment; the other faction will at least seek its removal. The second task of the future democratic government will be to make transparent the wealth of all of Nano’s governments, thereby also making it possible to examine all the mafia assets in Albania. The theft carried out so far exceeds the state budget for one year, while also putting an end to the possibility of looting the assets of the pyramid schemes, which have been incorporated into the major theft schemes. The Socialist Party has no power to withstand such an entrenchment of the mafia, even in the best-case scenario, if it has one. At present, no one from this political faction has shown any sign of concern, apart from debates that end in conformity at the expense of Albanians. Millions of dollars now go neither to roads, nor to water, nor to credit, but solely toward establishing an extremely dangerous mafia-economic clan, threatening the future of democracy in Albania. S.NEZA

Soon in Tirana, two Council of Europe rapporteurs Two Council of Europe rapporteurs, Kolumberg and Besostri, will soon arrive in Tirana, according to a letter that the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE, Ms. Leni Fisher, sent to Mr. Genc Pollo, deputy chairman of the DP. As stated in Ms. Fisher’s letter, the two rapporteurs, Kolumberg and Besostri, rapporteurs for the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, will return to Albania before the autumn session of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly, primarily aiming to resolve the conflict that has arisen between the Constitutional Court and the current Albanian government. The rapporteurs have undertaken to come to Albania on September 18 and 19 ... I hope, Ms. Fisher emphasizes in her letter, that they will use the details and various documents to prepare their mission in the best possible way. Ms. Fisher asks Mr. Pollo to send the rapporteurs any material he considers useful regarding this matter. Recent developments in Kosovo and along the Albanian border are also a concern for Ms. Fisher. She wishes and hopes that the DP, together with all the other forces, can cooperate with the international community to analyze the escalation of violence, which could destabilize the entire region.

The foul-mouthed “saints” who steal aid in the name of civil society ON PAGE 7

The properties of Malaj, Bundo, Dokle, and Gjinushi threatened by the law on pyramid schemes Legalists accuse the prime minister of dividing the UÇK Responsibility... [?] Serbs Nano [?]

The properties of Malaj, Bundo, Dokle, and Gjinushi are threatened by the law on pyramid schemes The properties of Malaj, Bundo, Dokle, and Gjinush threatened by the law on pyramid schemes Officials’ assets headed for seizure Arben Malaj, Minister of Finance, rumored by his own party and the opposition to be a beneficiary of one of the Albanian pyramid schemes, as well as Sherif Bundo, director of INSIG, former chief financial officer of the Socialist Party ... ON PAGE 6

Legalists accuse the prime minister of being the one dividing the UÇK The Albanian prime minister is like Dushan Mugosha Legalists accuse the prime minister of being the one dividing the UÇK Spahia: Nano encourages the Marxists The Albanian prime minister is like Dushan Mugosha ON PAGE 3

Appeal by Wolfgang Grosruck, Mayor of the city of Grieskirchen and member of the Austrian Parliament, addressed to Chancellor Klima ON PAGE 2 Fatos Nano’s television continues the blackout of information and censorship against the opposition. And its cameras were shut off for a Democratic Party press conference, demonstrating that Nano’s new appointee is not only no better than the one who left, but is many times more aggressive and worse than his predecessor. Kadare’s surveillant and the spy of Albanians seeking asylum in Germany, Ardian Klosi, has undertaken to continue the shameful methods of censorship that his predecessor brought back to Radio-Television. It is no coincidence that a former collaborator of the State Security, as Klosi’s predecessor was, has been replaced by another specimen of the same category, who, unlike the first, also has genetic reasons for being that way. By putting Ardian Klosi in charge of RTV, Prime Minister Nano intended to stifle every effort by the institution’s current staff to improve things following the opposition’s repeated accusations of an information blackout and censorship to its detriment. Meanwhile, the opposition has warned that it will use every democratic means to free Television from the communist censorship of the late twentieth century. Two days ago, thousands of Democrats protested outside the building where Ardian Klosi, now the surveillance spy and Kadare’s spy, is based, warning that they would escalate their protest until the law and the Arbnori amendment are implemented by Television.

Berisha met with Greek constitutional expert Tsasos The chairman of the Democratic Party, Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, met with Greek constitutional expert Prof. Tsasos. Prof. Tsasos acquainted Mr. Berisha with the fundamental principles of the new draft constitution, which he considered to meet European standards. He also noted that he had submitted technical, rather than substantive, comments on the draft to the Constitutional Commission. Berisha emphasized that he valued Prof. Tsasos’s efforts and contribution in this regard, but since the opposition was deliberately excluded from the constitutional process, the project could be nothing other than a government project for the opposition. Berisha pointed out that the governing coalition had irresponsibly excluded the opposition from the constitutional process. “I wish to remind you here,” Berisha emphasized, “that after the elections of May 26, 1996, although we had two-thirds of parliament, we made no effort to draft a constitution solely because the opposition was absent. Second, when the National Reconciliation Agreement was signed, I proposed drafting the constitution at a round table and adopting it by referendum after the elections, which the former opposition did not accept. Therefore, we took no steps. Third, at another time, in a single session, parliament appointed the co-chairs of the Constitutional Commission, allowing itself to act as in Gomulka’s Poland, where the government also appointed the co-chair who was supposed to represent the opposition. Our proposals to elect a co-chair from among the opposition members, as well as to establish a blocking minority, were left in the drawers of the parliamentary presidium for a long time and sent back on the pretext that they were unclear. “A few weeks ago, during its visit to Tirana, the tripartite parliamentary mission recommended precisely replacing the blocking minority with a mechanism that you had suggested several months earlier. We accepted and met with Ambassador Everts, head of the OSCE delegation in Tirana. Under the latter’s agreement with the government, we agreed to submit proposals for electing a co-chair of the Constitutional Commission and to fully accept the Troika’s recommendations. Meanwhile, the draft law on this position was submitted to parliament that very day; only two days later, when it was not placed on the agenda, the deputy speaker of parliament declared that nothing had arrived. All this demonstrates,” Berisha emphasized, “the governing coalition’s determination to exclude the opposition from the constitutional process.” Both interlocutors described the conversation as constructive.

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Those in power threaten opposition members with handcuffs ON PAGE 7

Jun, go away, 15-year-old soldier REUTERS