UN General Assembly
1997

country, in particular during the first half of the current year, which were also of concern to the United Nations. The Assembly is already aware of what happened in my country, during which total chaos and anarchy reigned for months. That was perhaps the biggest crisis in our modern history. Albania has a peculiar history of chronic isolation, of almost total estrangement from the rest of the world, of great potential, human and natural wealth, while being, at the same time, underdeveloped and poor. Our difficulties of growth are directly linked to the legacies of former rules and half a century of communism, of non- existent, non-functioning or malfunctioning democratic institutions, both during and after the collapse of communism and its structures, as well as with our mentality. They are linked to flaws and shortcomings in different fields, to clear tendencies to forsake freedom, to partisan intolerance, to lack of inter-party constructive cooperation, to mismanagement and corruption, to autocratic behaviour and decisions — not rare phenomena in our part of the world.