TIRANA, Oct. 28 – Albania’s Minister of Interior Fatmir Xhafaj handed in his resignation from office to Prime Minister Edi Rama on Saturday morning.
Rama himself made the news public through a tweet, while also announcing General Sander Lleshi will be taking Xhafaj’s post.
“I accepted the resignation of Minister Xhafaj, whom I thank for his valuable contribution. General Sander Lleshi will bring new positive energy as the head of interior affairs. The track has been paved. Now we need to increase the speed and achieve even more meaningful results,” Rama wrote on Twitter.
Head of the opposition’s Democratic Party Lulzim Basha wrote in social networks soon after news of his resignation broke out that “Fatmir Xhafaj was the only interior minister in Europe with a drug trafficker brother,” and that his resignation “is an important step in our battle to clear up politics from crime.”
In the same context, the opposition has also demanded Rama’s resignation for his alleged ties with crime.
Xhafaj’s resignation comes at an interesting time, as the Albanian police has been overseeing a number of operations aiming to capture the country’s most notorious criminal rings, while his replacement by the counselor for security issues – a politically non-experienced figure – has raised even more doubts among the lines of analysts and political scientists.
An official reason behind Xhafaj’s resignation is yet to be given, although he’s been the target of numerous opposition attacks, particularly regarding the alleged protection of his brother, Agron, who used to be part of a narcotics trafficking ring in Italy.
The accusations towards Xhafaj began with the surfacing of the ‘Babale case,’ in which Albert Veliu, former collaborator of Agron during his drug-trafficking years in Italy, claimed he recently spoke to Agron to help him traffick narcotics in order to make some easy money.
Both Xhafaj and Rama have denied the veracity of this audio-surveillance, while the country’s prosecution is investigating the case and has already issued two arrest warrants against Veliu and the man who impersonated Agron.
However, the Babale case investigations also made clear the fact that Agron’s sentence years back was eased significantly by saving him some prison years. Following the case breakout, Agron left to Italy to serve his sentence.
Xhafaj is one of the Socialist Party’s main politicians, a lawmaker and minister for several mandates, and chairman of the parliamentary committee of the judicial reform.
In his first appearance for the media after resigning from office, Xhafaj said his decision was motivated by personal reasons and called on the opposition to proceed with investigations concerning all the accusation it has made against him, now that he is not the country’s interior minister any longer.
Along the vetting of the judiciary, he devised the vetting process for the state police, while leading the ‘Force of Law’ operation for many months.
Xhafaj had also been often critical of his predecessor Saimir Tahiri, who is also under fire for possible ties with criminal rings in the country due to the criminal records of his relatives in neighboring Italy.
Tahiri had announced a press conference recently, which he cancelled after Xhafaj’s resignation according to local media.
In context of his abrupt resignation, there are five main leads local media has reported as possible reasons: a consensual resignation, an unexpected fight or disagreement with PM Rama, pressure from forme MoI Tahiri, or the alleged ongoing investigations into Durres mayor Vangjush Dako for vote-buying on behalf of the Socialist Party.
Political science experts comment on Xhafaj’s resignation
Avoiding to make speculations on the circumstances that brought the unexpected move on Xhafaj’s side, who only recently led a series of successful police operations and arrests and did not give any signs he was considering to leave his post, the biggest part of analysts have nonetheless concluded his resignation most likely signals tensions in the ranks of the socialists and pressure coming from criminal groups, which are strongly tied to the governing socialists.
“On the other hand, Xhafaj’s position as minister was also compromised by his brother’s punishment in Italy for trafficking narcotics,” said Armand Bajrami, ABC TV journalist and analyst.
Analyst Afrim Krasniqi, head of the Institute of Political Studies, says that for 4 years the socialist majority has been promising the same things, as targeting gambling, the crackdown of crime and the 40 gangs, indicating that concrete results are missing, that the socialists can not fight criminality , a fact that indicates that concrete results are missing, that the socialists cannot fight criminality, that reforms have slowed down and that when a criminal group is caught, immediate pressures from the world of crime cause political storms.
According to him, the socialist majority has difficulties in keeping its promises for the rule of law and the sought political reforms.
“The government’s cabinet resembles a group of Rama’s loyal advisers and assistants than figures with professional and political personalities from the socialists’ ranks, credible enough to lead the country’s important reforms. Meanwhile, organized criminal and corrupt groups have achieved frightening levels of pressure and manage to influence political decision-making, imposing up to the election of deputies or even ministers’ changes,” Krasniqi said.
Further on, a number of analysts believe that the pressure from international institutions on Albanian authorities is the only means to achieve results in establishing the bodies foreseen under the country’s judicial reform and avoiding any problems that may arise within the SP to hamper the rhythm of progress.
“In addition to major delays in judicial reform and the appointment of judges and prosecutors, analysts believe that there has been a lack of self-sufficiency among the police forces, although the expectation in both of these processes has been high by Albanians and internationals,” Bajrami added.
Who is General Sander Lleshi
After Rama’s recommendation, Lleshi is to be decreed by the President of the Republic Ilir Meta as the new interior minister. Sander Lleshi, Brigadier General. In 2011 he held the post of Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Albania. In 1996-2000, Lleshi was Commander of the Courses at the Defense Academy in Tirana and then for three more years was Commander of the Skanderbeg Military Academy. In 2003-2006 he served as Defense Attachà© of the Republic of Albania in Germany. In 2013, Rama made him part of his cabinet, appointing him as Security Adviser.
