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Article: Ancient legal code resonates in Albania.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- May 6, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SHKODER, Albania _ In a mountain cafe shaded by willows, a boy brandished a submachine gun as nervous men sipped cognac and Asllan Cafi, a village sage with knotted fingers and watery blue eyes, checked the 9mm pistol holstered around his narrow hips.
Every face entering the doorway was viewed with suspicion. Friends were enemies in disguise. Only family could be trusted. The Cafi clan counted its bullets and drew close, watching and waiting for the blood feud to commence and the brutal ethos of mountain justice to be enacted.
It was a dangerous and ironic predicament for Cafi. He had always been the elder called upon to mediate truces between warring ...