Minister of Interior Affairs Fatmir Xhafaj has unexpectedly resigned yesterday. Prime Minister Edi Rama announced the resignation on social media, while Xhafaj himself refused to give any explanation for his sudden departure.
Leaving the Ministry of Interior yesterday evening after staying inside for nearly 9 hours, he refused to give any comment to the media. On Twitter, he chose to attack the opposition, which had long called for his departure:
With its comments about my resignation the opposition confirms once again its political decay. I’m sorry for them, but also for the citizens. I challenge them and anyone, now that I will no longer be minister, to prove the accusations made against me as minister.
I condemn the slander and angry comments of anyone that cannot understand that there are also people in politics that can be themselves free in what they think and do. In simply annoy their viciousness and insolence with my silence. Time remains the best judge for everyone.
With the exit of Minister Xhafaj, Prime Minister Rama loses another Minister of Interior accused by both the opposition and internationals of being related to criminal activity.
Xhafaj has been at the center of the scandal surrounding his brother Agron Xhafaj, an internationally wanted drug trafficker whom he supposedly offered protection in Albania. The scandal surrounding a wiretap of Agron Xhafaj, the so-called Babale tape, involved several Socialist politicians, had recently undermined Fatmir Xhafaj’s position.
