COOPERATION AMONG ALL POLITICAL PARTIES IS NEEDED PAGE 16

PARLIAMENT RESUMED ITS WORK YESTERDAY PAGE 3

BERISHA BROKE UP THE GOVERNMENT OF STABILITY ON 4 DECEMBER ’91 NATIONAL LIBRARY TIRANA PAGE 14

1.6 KG OF EXPLOSIVES LEAVES THE SOUTH IN DARKNESS PAGE 6

We want law and order, but not from thieves By Erion Braçe

By Erion Braçe When Albanians forgive you 10 or 20 lekë that make the leeks, cabbage, beans, and spinach more expensive, none of them forgives dishonesty. But when many of them take some money out of their wallets so that this state can pay the police better—along with their chiefs—then everyone has the right to shout, “We want law and order.” Such a person might be an ordinary citizen who wants to live in peace, a parent who wants his daughter to be a “light” in his home and not a firefly on the roads of the world. There are many who can shout this. Lately, those filling the state’s revenue coffers—the businesspeople and traders—have been among them, and quite rightly they demand protection for their wealth and property. But their cry of “we want law and order” is also growing louder for another reason: the destruction of their businesses by unfair competition, unlike businesses that prosper through smuggling. People, but also state officials, are the ones who establish law and order or fail to do so, collect taxes or fail to collect them, foster security or fail to do so, and allow smuggling or prevent it. That is why reform, especially in staffing, is very important. But can a reshuffle—recycling thieves—be called reform? Even if they are police officers. Low-ranking or senior officers. I ask because it became known yesterday that a police director agreed to become the chief of a police station in Tirana. Besnik Breçani is one such case. To date, no one has proved that he is a thief, leaving the accusations against him as mere rumors. But then why is he being removed? His ups and downs have prompted nothing but scandalous suspicions, and for a career officer such a sharp demotion would be unacceptable. Yet Breçani, who had become police director general months earlier, did not change any indicator on the security chart. He was dismissed despite his meager record of success, then appointed police director in a prefecture with four customs posts, two of them major gateways into the country through which smuggling flows; one of them, Goric[a?], an unsealed passageway for thieves. In fact, this is how Breçani lasted, how he was kept on, and how he was let go. He was dismissed, perhaps for this reason, but appointed chief of Tirana Police Station No. 3. Once again, a scandalous demotion, without motivation, accepted by Breçani. The idea now circulating among the public is that after making money, you have to secure it. The above case is both relevant and not. This is because when you see the positions of Tirana’s police chiefs rising or falling, the surprise is much greater. It has been six months since the head of the businesspeople’s association was abducted, and the police cannot say whether he is alive or dead. It has been a month since the house of the head of the Constitutional Court was blown up just 100 meters from Police Headquarters, and these chiefs have said it has something to do with their clone. Mr. Abdiu himself said: “It was dynamite, that is, heavy trit.” So is this reform? The responsibility of the people who select and sign off appointments should not become an alibi for thieves or failures who are willing to go from “general” to “bean seller.” They may be full of vitamins, though.

Warehouse burns down. Extensive material damage. The fire was caused by a fault in the electrical system. TIRANA—Coca-Cola in flames. It was 02:00 yesterday when a fire broke out in the warehouses of the well-known Coca-Cola company in our country; over time, it became increasingly destructive. Sources at the Ministry of Public Order reported that the fire completely burned all the plastic and wooden materials, while the expensive machines were saved. The sources mentioned above specified that firefighters from Tirana, Durrës, Krujë, and Kavajë were all mobilized to extinguish the powerful fire. PAGE 2 Photograph: a bear holds a Coca-Cola can in its mouth; below, a vehicle beside the Coca-Cola sign.

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