Rufi Osmani returned to the political scene in early July, "Koha Ditore" reported on 9 July. He spent 18 months in prison for flying the Albanian flag from the town hall of Gostivar in western Macedonia in 1997 and 1998, in violation of Macedonia's law on the display of national symbols, and for "inciting national hatred." Osmani has meanwhile lost no time in reinventing his political career. The former mayor of the mainly ethnic Albanian town apparently hopes to reach out to a young and dissatisfied electorate by developing a profile as a charismatic and outspoken leader.

By using highly polemical language, Osmani is trying to distinguish himself from the two main established ethnic Albanian parties. They are the Albanian Democratic Party (PDSH)--which is in the government coalition--and the opposition Party of Democratic Prosperity (PPD), which was part of the former, Social Democratic-led government that lost the 1998 elections. Osmani--who was a PDSH member in the past--addressed a rally of angry ethnic Albanian underground-university students from Tetovo in Gostivar on 4 July. The students protested against the planned transformation of their underground university into a private institution. This is provided for by an agreement reached under the mediation of the OSCE's High Commissioner on National Minorities Max Van der Stoel (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report" 28 April 2000).

The students demand instead that the Tetovo University become a full-fledged state university. In his speech, Osmani used harsh words against the leaders of the PDSH, who have accepted the compromise. Osmani told the students: "I wish that Machiavelli and the Albanian Goebbels would show up to explain to you how it came to pass that these loud-talking patriots [the PDSH leaders] defend the project of Van der Stoel, together with the criminal leader of the Macedonian opposition, [former Prime Minister Branko] Crvenkovski." He did not elaborate on whom he meant by "Machiavelli and the Albanian Goebbels," however. Osmani's reference to Crvenkovski as a "criminal" alludes to a police action during the time of his government.

On 9 July 1997, a massive police force took down the Albanian flag from the Gostivar town hall. During a confrontation with ethnic Albanian protesters, police fired anti-aircraft machine guns into the air to disperse the crowd, killing two people who were far from the scene (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 July 1997).

Police arrested Osmani the same day, and a court later sentenced him to 13 years in prison for inciting national hatred. He broke with the PDSH when that party joined the new coalition with the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO/DPMNE) in November 1998. He also refused to meet its leader, Arben Xhaferi, who wanted to visit him in prison. One month later, Osmani was released during an amnesty declared by the new coalition. After his release, he initially declared that he would retire from politics and return to his family, business, and university work. He currently teaches economics at the underground university in Tetovo. With his recent return to politics, however, Osmani is apparently trying to capitalize on his role as a former political prisoner and, in essence, martyr. He stressed: "Never will we forget the crimes that [Crvenkovski] committed; we have no right to be silent and forget." Referring to the political leaders of the PDSH, he said: "When the bloodshed was going onthey were h

iding in the basements of Gostivar will be opened some day, because this is a legacy that we cannot forget." He also accused the PDSH leadership of changing policies towards the political leadership in Albania out of opportunism: "What do these people think? That we do not remember them filling the squares all over Macedonia as spokesmen of [former Albanian President and current opposition leader Sali] Berisha, and singing Albanian nationalist songs? Now they are under the protection of [Albanian Socialist Party leader Fatos] Nano and spreading [his] nationalist propaganda. They think that they deserve to be led by a smuggler [Nano].

I hope the leaders of the PDSH will receive diplomas from the Van der Stoel institution, because we face the dilemma that these people have never been educated to become intellectuals." In recent interviews, Osmani also discussed the possibility of founding a new ethnic Albanian political party, hoping to get votes from those who are disappointed with the PPD and PDSH. Both parties had to make compromises on numerous issues during their respective stints in government.

"Koha Ditore" noted that Osmani "has chosen a political strategy of pointing the finger at the failures of those Albanians who are participating in the government."

The daily added: "He knows that the battlefield for the struggle against his own [former] party people will not be local elections but the next parliamentary elections. And for sure he will wait patiently for the right moment to challenge the PDSH and eventually to win. He will do so by appealing to those dissatisfied within the ranks of the party itself, just as the PDSH did to oust the PPD" before it. Whatever Osmani's plans for his future career are, so far he has neither offered a forward-looking political program--addressing the more complex economic and social problems of Macedonia--nor shown much willingness to compromise with the ethnic Macedonians (who outnumber the ethnic Albanians by almost three-to-one). While his base of support is likely to be young voters, it is questionable whether he will manage to gather much support from the older and more conservative elements in the electorate.

(Fabian Schmidt)

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