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Betreff:         [ALBANEWS] Albania, Kosovo, cloud Balkan progress
Datum:         Tue, 15 Sep 1998 13:32:08 -0400
    Von:         Sokol Rama <sokolrama@sprynet.com>

Albania, Kosovo, cloud Balkan progress
11:17 a.m. Sep 15, 1998 Eastern
By Jeremy Gaunt

ATHENS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - New violence in Albania and the continuing strife in Kosovo are threatening regional stability, but also clouding progress that has been made in the Balkans over recent years, diplomats and analysts said on Tuesday.
     Much of what has been happening in the region has been positive, they said, from the installation of reform-minded governments in Bulgaria and Romania, to tentative democracy and investment in Bosnia.
     Greece has patched up relations with all but Turkey among its neighbours. Croatia, meanwhile, was making economic if not democratic progress.
     But Albania's legacy of anarchy, the separatist drive in Kosovo and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's hardline Serbian nationalism continued to be a source of deep worry.
     "It's like having a bunch of kindling. It's easy to take flame," a U.S. diplomat said. "What happened in Albania in the last couple of days is quite disturbing."
     For a time on Sunday and Monday, amid the rioting that followed the murder of Democrat leader Azem Hajdari, Albania appeared ready to slide into the chaos that gripped it last year after the collapse of pyramid investment schemes.
     Chilling pictures of mob rule in the streets of Tirana seemed to confirm the dire predictions of U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke of a Balkan domino spilling from Kosovo to Albania to Macedonia and perhaps dragging in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.
     But as calm appeared to return to Tirana on Tuesday, regional specialists painted both Kosovo and Albania as special cases and said that all in all the Balkans were doing better than advertised.
     "The rest of the picture is not that gloomy," said Thanos Veremis of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy. "Bulgaria is quiet. Romania is progressing. One can narrow the problem to the Albania agenda."
     Others noted that Macedonia, where a sizable ethnic Albanian minority has close ties to separatist Kosovar Albanians across the border in Serbia, was a keen participant in NATO partnership activities and making reforms.
     The Yugoslav republic of Montenegro was also distancing itself from Belgrade, earning a reprieve from an EU ban on flights imposed in response to Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatism in Kosovo.
     "There are a lot of gloom scenarios but in the last year there have also been some positive developments," said Daphne Papahadjopoulos of the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies.
     Chris Cviic, associate fellow of London's Royal Institute of International Affairs agreed that there had been progress. "Countries have remained stable. The Balkans have held up very well," he said.
     But longterm stability would remain elusive while Milosevic continued to snub Western efforts to find a settlement in Kosovo and played the Serbian nationist card.
     "The (Balkan) problem is located in former Yugoslavia," Cviic said. "The problem is Serbia."
     Even Greece, arguably Belgrade's only ally in the EU, seemed to agree.
     "We would like to be able to say 'Balkans' and not have people jump in fear," said one senior government official, who asked not to be named. "The Kosovo situation is dragging us down."

Taken without permission, for fair use only.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

15 September 98

The Daily Telegraph
Albanian police struggle to quell opposition riots
By Nanette van der Laan, East Europe Correspondent

ALBANIAN police last night regained control of parliament, government and state television buildings from opposition supporters who had earlier run wild in the capital, Tirana. Three demonstrators were killed and 14 wounded in a day of clashes.
The situation in the capital had spiralled out of control when supporters of the former president Sali Berisha carried the bodies of a murdered politician and two others to the office of Fatos Nano, the Prime Minister, whom the opposition blames for the deaths.
The building, which was attacked and set on fire on Sunday, appeared deserted. But as mourners placed the three coffins at the entrance, gunfire erupted, apparently from government guards. Protesters returned fire and threw hand grenades at the building as thousands of mourners fled in panic, sparking what appeared to be a spontaneous uprising throughout the city.
In scenes reminiscent of last year's anarchy when more than a million weapons were looted from government armouries, crowds of armed men roamed the capital and opposition supporters seized four tanks. Exultant civilians jumped on their gun turrets as they rumbled through the streets.
The Interior Minister, Perikli Teta, warned the demonstrators who seized government buildings that the police would "fire without warning on armed bandits". He said: "We are going to defend state institutions, even with our blood. The Albanian state cannot be subjected to violence, to looting and to destruction. The state must defend itself . . . I am still the interior minister."
As darkness fell, Albanian police moved armoured vehicles into position near the television and radio building. The police came under sporadic gunfire from armed men on the roof. Several staff said they had left the TV building, fearing that police were preparing to storm it. Earlier, at least four people were wounded in a hail of gunfire exchanged between police and thousands of protesters trying to break into government buildings.
As the government appeared to be losing control of its capital, Mr Nano said he regarded the protesters' rampage as an attempt to overthrow the government. His spokesman, Ben Blushi, said: "He considers this an attempted coup d'etat. He is not going to resign. No government can administer the country in these conditions."
Police were unable to stop heavily armed civilians firing in the air as they cruised down down the city's main boulevard in cars. One group of protesters stormed the government TV studios, sending many of the staff fleeing. Viewers saw an unidentified man on their screens, saying: "We have taken over."
The uprising was sparked by the funeral of an opposition MP, Azem Hajdari, who was assassinated on Sunday. Mr Hajdari, 35, a close associate of Sali Berisha, the former president, was shot dead along with a bodyguard outside the headquarters of Mr Berisha's opposition Democratic Party.
Mr Berisha has blamed the killing on Mr Nano and issued an ultimatum demanding that the prime minister's resignation. It is not clear how much influence Mr Berisha has over his supporters. Yesterday he called for a "day of peace" to honour Mr Hajdari, but his supporters resorted to violence on the streets instead.
Last night, the Albanian government ordered Mr Berisha to leave the country by this morning or risk arrest, but he immediately replied that he would defy the order and would not leave. Meanwhile, Western officials have issued a joint statement deploring the violence and hinting that they might cut off economic aid if the government falls.
The United States and the European Union have expressed fear that the turmoil could spread elsewhere in the Balkans. Mr Berisha has openly supported Albanian rebels in Kosovo, who maintain sanctuaries in northern Albania.
 

The Times
Prime Minister tries to restore order after funeral of opposition leader,
writes Anthony Loyd in Tirana
Berisha supporters bring Tirana to brink of chaos

FIGHTING erupted in the Albanian capital yesterday, leaving the centre in chaos as supporters of Sali Berisha, the former President, clashed through the day with forces loyal to Fatos Nano, the Socialist Prime Minister.
The Albanian government later ordered Dr Berisha to leave the country by morning or risk arrest, but he said he would not leave.
The violence, which claimed three lives, began after several thousand people gathered for the funeral of Azem Hajdari, a founder member of Dr Berisha's Democratic Party who was killed with his bodyguard in what appears to have been a contract killing two days ago. A mob, carrying the coffins on their shoulders, swept out of Skanderbeg Square and up the Boulevard of Martyrs, where they began to stone the Prime Minister's office.
Perikli Teta, the Interior Minister, said later that police would "fire without warning at armed bandits" who continued to attack government buildings.
As the mob tried to break in, police retaliated, firing from inside the building. The hail of Kalashnikov and pistol fire ignited running gunbattles throughout the city.
The attack initially repulsed, Mr Nano, who on Sunday was given a 24-hour ultimatum by Dr Berisha to resign, attempted to restore order.
Ben Blushi, his spokesman, said the Prime Minister had no intention of stepping down, but appealed for international help to prevent a return to the almost uncontrollable anarchy witnessed last year. Mr Nano's future remained distinctly uncertain, however: the pro-Berisha rebels skirmished outside the television station before sending staff fleeing with a volley of gunshots. "We have taken over," an unidentified man told the nation. Dr Berisha himself then appeared, appealing for calm, a political solution to the crisis and a day of peace in honour of Mr Hajdari, his closest friend in politics.
Speaking to the thousands that milled around the funeral cortège, he blamed Mr Nano for the death of "the hero", whose anti-Communist student protests early in the decade helped to propel Dr Berisha to power.
The crowd chanted anti-Nano slogans, and also sang "UCK, UCK", in praise of the Albanian rebels fighting in neighbouring Kosovo, with whom Dr Berisha appears to have uncomfortable connections.
Tanks and armoured personnel carriers moved into Skanderbeg Square, but seemed reluctant to control the mob. One tank at least was mobbed by Dr Berisha's gunmen and parked outside the Palace of Culture. There were reports of at least three other tanks taken by the protesters.
As the unrest spread, the Hotel Tirana International at one end of the square sealed its entrances. Young men were breaking into shops, which had closed for Hajdari's funeral.
The peripheral streets were largely deserted. In the early evening, the Berisha mob clung to their tank, while Mr Nano's black-shirted police raced around attempting to seal arterial roads. Some drove in convoys up and down the Boulevard of Martyrs, firing overhead towards the television centre, from where Berisha loyalists peppered the passing security forces.
I saw one group of armed men standing on the debris littering the pavements outside the Prime Minister's office, firing repeatedly into a car at point-blank range. The vehicle's passenger scrambled out, hands raised, and began to stumble away backwards. I do not know the fate of the driver.
"Welcome to Albanian hospitality," said the receptionist in the empty foyer of the Hotel Rogner, a hundred yards from the action.

Profile
Fearless darling of the Right
BY JAMES PETTIFER

AZEM HAJDARI was the darling of the Albanian Right; hard, cheerful and a brilliant agitator who led the Tirana students in the uprising against the country's Communist rulers in 1990.
Like Sali Berisha, the former President, Hajdari was from Tropoja in the far north, and anathema to the former Communists around Fatos Nano, the Prime Minister. The perfect street orator, Hajdari said what Dr Berisha did not wish to say. He was a candidate for leader of the Democrats in 1991, but an American-engineered coup in the party brought Dr Berisha to power instead.
Hajdari knew he was living on borrowed time after surviving an assassination attempt in parliament last summer. His funeral will mark the end of any possibility of parliamentary opposition functioning in the capital and there is a real risk of a return to last year's anarchy.
 

Financial Times
KOSOVO: EU 'must step up pressure on Milosevic'
By Michael Smith in Brussels

The European Union is being pressed by its commissioner for eastern Europe to adopt tougher policies on the crisis in Kosovo, amid concern in Brussels that the EU is attracting international scorn through lack of decisive action.
Hans van den Broek has told foreign ministers the response by the international community and the EU on Kosovo has failed to yield tangible results. He said the EU should consider making a "clear ultimatum" to Slobodan Milosevic, Yugoslav president, over his conduct in Kosovo.
Disclosure of his advice follows an attack by the US envoy to the Balkans on the EU for "fiddling while Kosovo burns". There is also a row between EU member states over a ban on flights by JAT, the Yugoslav air carrier.
The UK and Greece have been strongly criticised by Germany and other governments and by the European Commission president, Jacques Santer, for allowing JAT flights to continue for 12 months and six months respectively for legal reasons.
At a meeting in Salzburg, Austria, last week, EU foreign ministers warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo affecting hundreds of thousands as winter approaches but side-stepped the commissioner's pleas for more decisive action.
Before the meeting, Mr van den Broek questioned in a confidential letter to foreign ministers, obtained by the Financial Times, whether "the time has come for the EU to make a clear ultimatum to President Milosevic to stop military operations [in Kosovo], thereby paving the way for negotiations".
He also suggested taking a more independent line from the so-called Contact Group of six nations - the US, Russia, the UK, France, Germany and Italy - which is co-ordinating international reaction but has failed to reach consensus on the need for military intervention amid Russian opposition.
"Is it compatible with vital EU interests that we accept that vital EU interests are seriously affected by lack of consensus in the Contact Group?" he wrote.
Mr van den Broek's letter was couched in diplomatic language and did not elaborate in detail on what he thinks should be done.
However, one option being floated in his directorate is that the EU should press the United Nations Security Council for a resolution on the use of force as a sanction against Mr Milosevic.
Some Commission officials believe fear of rejection should not stop the EU from trying to get a resolution. "It would add to the pressure on Milosevic and would give us more credibility to conduct future policy," said one.
Foreign affairs ministers argue a UN resolution would inevitably be defeated because of Russian opposition.
They concentrated discussions at last week's meeting on existing policies of economic sanctions and channelling humanitarian aid to refugees. They also agreed to appoint an EU special representative for Kosovo.

ALBANIA: Premier claims coup as mobs erupt
By Guy Dinmore in Belgrade

Albania's prime minister, Fatos Nano, went into hiding yesterday, claiming a coup was being organised by opposition mobs in Tirana who plunged the capital into violence for a second day.
Last night police claimed they had wrestled back control of a broadcasting centre which supporters of the former president, Sali Berisha, seized earlier in the day after commandeering tanks. Three people were reported killed and 14 wounded.
The government denied reports that the prime minister had resigned. "He considers this a coup d'état," said his spokesman. "He is not going to resign."
He said Mr Nano had been in contact with foreign leaders and had told them the situation was intolerable. The spokesman added: "I do not exclude interventions like last year."
Romano Prodi, the Italian prime minister, told defence ministry officials to prepare to evacuate Italian nationals if necessary. An Italian-led multinational force helped to restore calm after months of anarchy last year caused by the collapse of fraudulent pyramid investment schemes which Mr Berisha had allowed to flourish while he was president.
In an appeal for calm earlier, Mr Nano said: "I call on everyone not to allow anyone to bring back the chaos of last year, to hijack Albania and all of us with it." The riots came a day after Mr Berisha's supporters, infuriated by the assassination of Azem Hajdari, a leading member of his Democratic party, had set fire to the prime minister's office.
In the civil uprising that exploded across Albania last year army arsenals were looted of hundreds of thousands of weapons and more than 2,000 people died.
Mr Berisha's Democratic party was heavily defeated by Mr Nano's Socialists in elections that followed.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which has been mediating between the two parties, blamed the latest violence on a minority of hardliners and said there was no comparison with last year's unrest.
The OSCE was pressing Mr Berisha to call off the armed mob.
Rumours that Berisha supporters were planning a coup had been circulating in Tirana for several weeks. The spark for the current violence came on Saturday night when unidentified gunmen killed Mr Hajdari and his two bodyguards. Mr Berisha blamed the deaths on Mr Nano and called on the prime minister to resign.
Yesterday large crowds gathered for the funeral of the three men in Tirana's main Skanderbeg square. Addressing the rally, Mr Berisha again accused Mr Nano of being behind Mr Hajdari's death but called for a day of peace in his honour.
Demonstrators then carried the three coffins to the prime minister's office where gunfire erupted, apparently from guards inside.
Mr Hajdari had been a fiery student leader who played a leading role in Albania's anti-communist revolution in 1991. He came from Tropoje, the same northern town as Mr Berisha, and had galvanised opposition among the tight-knit clans there against Mr Nano, a southerner.
Mr Hajdari also had ties to ethnic Albanian rebels fighting for independence in Serbia's Kosovo province, just across the mountains from northern Albania. Yesterday in Tirana demonstrators chanted "UCK", the Albanian acronym for the Kosovo Liberation Army.
The international organisations administering intensive care to Albania since last year have credited Mr Nano with restoring a degree of stability and economic revival to Europe's poorest country.
A recent World Bank report warned, however, of the weakness of state institutions. It concluded: "Even without a full-fledged international conflict or border war, the situation in Kosovo is already aggravating the precarious internal security situation in Albania."
Under intense US pressure Mr Nano has opposed the rebels' goal of an independent Kosovo or a "Greater Albania".
But his attempts to soothe nationalist passions have given Mr Berisha the opening to relaunch his political ambitions.
 

The Independent
Tirana in chaos as tanks move in
By Paul Wood, Balkans Correspondent

The Albanian capital, Tirana, descended into chaos yesterday as tanks lumbered through the streets and the government declared that it was facing an attempted coup by opposition supporters loyal to the former president, Sali Berisha.
Armoured vehicles seized by opposition supporters fired repeatedly into the building that houses the office of Fatos Nano, the country's Socialist Party Prime Minister. Mr Nano's spokesman said: "The Prime Minister is safe but not in his office for reasons that are clear."
Gunmen declaring their loyalty to Mr Berisha's Democratic Party were seen breaking into parliament, while elsewhere in the city, opposition supporters seized control of the state television building. Mr Berisha used the opportunity to broadcast a repeat of his demands for Mr Nano and his government to resign.
Last night, however, government forces said they had regained control of key installations in the capital, ending a day of chaotic violence.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said at least three Berisha supporters had been killed and 14 wounded in the government's counter-offensive.
Government sources also said the Interior Ministry had told foreign diplomats they would try to arrest Mr Berisha unless he left the country.
Mr Berisha defiantly replied to this report on CNN television, insisting that he would "never leave the country". The former president said: "I really regret what is happening, but I'll never leave.
"These people who are in a great panic are inventing such things as a coup, but I never attempted and never will attempt such a move".
It was the second day of violence in the Albanian capital. Armed rioting by Democratic Party supporters began at the weekend after one of their leaders, Azem Hajdari, was shot dead by men dressed in police uniforms.
On Sunday Mr Berisha claimed that the government had organised Mr Hajdari's murder and demanded that Mr Nano resign within 24 hours.
At least 10,000 opposition supporters gathered for Mr Hajdari's funeral yesterday. Mr Berisha called for calm, but repeated his accusations. The trouble began after the funeral procession apparently attempted to take the coffin into government headquarters.
Witnesses reported that there was then an intense exchange of fire.
Grenade blasts scattered the mourners.
The Socialist government then put tanks and armoured troop carriers on to the streets, but opposition supporters commandeered several of the vehicles.
As the crisis deepened, Rexhep Mejdani, the President, held meetings with parliamentary deputies, seemingly with a view to forming a new coalition government.
The US and European Union expressed fears that the violence could spread elsewhere in the Balkans.

Looted guns aid attempt to take over
By Paul Wood

Albania's Socialist Government appeared woefully unprepared for the anarchic challenge to its rule on the streets of the capital yesterday.
But if officials were surprised at the violent turn of events, they should not have been.
Western diplomats believe the government's obvious weakness always made it vulnerable to a repeat of the kind of armed insurrection that toppled President Sali Berisha - now the opposition leader - in March last year.
That uprising released hundreds of thousands of looted weapons - freely available now to the bandits who have made Albania the most lawless country in Europe, and for those who might want to mount a direct challenge to the government.
The government's supporters, on the other hand, insist this is not a spontaneous popular uprising similar to last year's revolt. That was caused by popular anger over fraudulent pyramid investment schemes. This time, they say, the rioters are acting out a cynical plan by Mr Berisha to take power back in the same way it was taken from him.
Either way, the government, should have expected trouble. It started with the murder last wekend of one of the Democratic Party's most popular figures, Azem Hajdari - a former student leader who led the demonstrations in 1992 that brought down Albania's Communist regime and swept Mr Berisha into office.
Mr Berisha immediately declared it was a political assassination ordered by the authorities. He has been unable to produce any evidence of official involvement in the murder, and indeed it is hard to see how a government so obviously weak would benefit from stirring up trouble by killing an opponent.
There are, however, several other conspiracy theories to consider. The one favoured by the Socialists is that Mr Berisha himself was behind the killing, needing a pretext to ignite the widespread unrest, which would be his only path back to power. Others believe the dead man was a casualty in the war for control of the lucrative trade in weapons being smuggled to Albanian rebels in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
Whatever the truth, Mr Berisha has used the death to his advantage, repeating his allegations against the government with every day the unrest continues and demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister, Fatos Nano.
The crisis has been deepened by the war in neighbouring Kosovo, where Albanian fighters from the Kosovo Liberation Army have suffered a series of crushing defeats at the hands of the Serbian security forces.
The KLA fighters see Albania as a natural refuge. Mr Berisha's opponents say he has close links to the KLA and might use some of their personnel if open warfare breaks out. Some allege he has already done so on the streets of Tirana.
Mr Berisha has stressed he will take office again only after a vote by the Albanian people in the new elections. Many political commentators now believe the best hope to avoid widespread bloodshed is for the installation of an emergency "technical" government, which would organise fresh polls. This might be the quickest and cleanest path to victory for Mr Berisha. But as the Socialist government is insisting that it will not to give in to violence, there are growing fears that the events in Tirana mark not so much a return to the anarchy of last year as the start of a full-scale civil war.
 

The Guardian
Coup 'under way' in Albania
By Benet Koleka in Tirana
Tuesday September 15, 1998

Armed protesters stormed public buildings and commandeered tanks in Tirana yesterday. While the government appeared later to have regained control of the Albanian capital, the day saw the worst violence for more than a year.
Many vehicles were set on fire, shops looted, and the state television and radio station seized by supporters of the country's former leader, Sali Berisha. The prime minister, Fatos Nano, who went into hiding when the trouble broke out, said a coup was under way.
The interior ministry said that at least three supporters of Dr Berisha's opposition Democratic Party were killed and 14 wounded in the government counter-attack.
"I express my deep respect for the police forces of Tirana and Albania," said the interior minister, Perikli Teta, after a semblance of order was restored last night.
Dr Berisha, defeated by Mr Nano in elections in July last year, said government talk of a coup was an invention. He remained at his party headquarters last night as rumours circulated that state forces would seek to arrest him today. "I really regret what is happening, but I'll never leave this country," he told CNN television.
President Rexhep Meidani was consulting political parties in search of a solution, including forming a new government possibly without Mr Nano, an official said.
The trouble began when several people were injured in exchanges of gunfire between guards at Mr Nano's office and mourners attending the funeral of a Democratic Party politican murdered at the weekend. The party accuses Mr Nano of being behind the murder.
For much of yesterday order appeared to have collapsed. Armed gangs roamed the centre of Tirana in cars, and gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the city as opposition supporters seized the broadcasting station. Convoys of police cars raced through deserted streets trying to reassert authority.
 

BBC NEWS
Albanian PM hides after 'coup attempt'

The Albanian government says it has put down an attempted coup and regained control of the capital, Tirana, following two days of rioting in which four people were killed.
The government says Prime Minister Fatos Nano, whose resignation is being demanded by opposition groups, is now in a secret location.
Early on Tuesday there was reported to be an uneasy calm in Tirana, but the opposition announced it intended to hold another in the city's central Skanderbeg Square.
The Interior Ministry said it had informed opposition leader Sali Berisha that government forces were under orders to shoot without warning and that his Democratic Party would be held responsible for any casualties.
A group of heavily armed supporters of Dr Berisha gathered at the Democratic Party headquarters during the night, with a tank seized from the army during yesterday's violence, and a BBC correspondent says Dr Berisha shows no sign of backing down.

'Bandits and criminals'

In a BBC interview, the Albanian Foreign Minister, Paskal Milo, described the leaders of the protests as "bandits and criminals", but he said the situation in Tirana had been "stabilised".
During two days of clashes between armed opposition supporters and police four people were killed, and protesters took temporary control of parliament, the state broadcasting network and the prime minister's office.
The clashes were sparked by the killing last weekend of a prominent ally of Mr Berisha, Azem Hajdari.
The government says Mr Hajdari's death is being used as an excuse by Mr Berisha to try to seize power.
The foreign minister said Mr Berisha was responsible for the violence, but he said the government would work with him to find a peaceful settlement to the crisis, as urged by the United States and other countries.
He said the government would not try to arrest Mr Berisha but neither was it prepared to share power with the opposition.
Although Prime Minister Nano's Socialist party have made it clear there will be no government resignations, members handed the mandate of power to Secretary General Pandeli Majko.
Mr Berisha has repeated his demand for the prime minister to resign.
Regional threat There has been concern, particularly among Albania's European neighbours, that the violence will plunge the country into a crisis similar to that of 1997 following the collapse of fraudulent pyramid investment schemes.
There are also concerns about the regional implications of further serious unrest in Albania.
After the chaos of 1997 correspondents say Albania remains a fragmented and volatile country, with much of the population having ready access to arms.
Mr Berisha's party has centred its opposition to the government on what it says is the prime minister's inadequate response to the conflict between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in neighbouring Kosovo.
The Democratic party and its right-wing coalition partners actively support the Kosovo Liberation Army, which is fighting for independence from Serbia, and has training bases and weapon supply points in the north of Albania.
Eyewitnesses at Monday's disturbances reported seeing Kosovans and members of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army among the protesters.
 

ITN NEWS
Government bid to quell violence in Albanian capital

In a bid to prevent new violence after a day of rioting and gunfire, the government on Tuesday banned an opposition rally in the Albanian capital of Tirana and ordered barricaded rebels to turn in their weapons.
A statement by the Interior Ministry - responsible for law and order - warned of a tough response to any resistance from supporters of former President Sali Berisha, in the wake of armed clashes on Monday between them and government security forces.
Police have been authorized to "shoot without warning" if opposed, said the statement, read on state television. The statement also said a rally by Berisha's Democratic Party, planned for 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) would not be permitted. And it urged armed Berisha supporters holed up at downtown Democratic Party headquarters to lay down their arms.
"We call on the Democratic Party do distance itself from those individuals," the statement said. "Otherwise, it will bear responsibility for subsequent developments."
The Monday protest - prompted by the weekend assassination of a popular Berisha ally and fellow lawmaker - touched off a wild day of unrest reminiscent of the anarchy that lasted for months in 1997.
Police said at least three Berisha supporters were killed and 14 wounded when government forces launched a counterattack and swiftly regained control of seized key facilities: Parliament, the state television and radio building and Prime Minister Fatos Nano's office.
At least four tanks rumbled through the streets, crowds of looters broke into stores and gangs of armed men roamed the city, firing in the air.
One of the tanks was parked in front of Democratic Party headquarters on Tuesday, apparently in rebel hands. Police were negotiating with the armed Berisha supporters, trying to convince them to hand over at least their heavy weapons, said the statement.
Berisha, facing severe criticism from international leaders and threatened arrest by the government, has called for the Socialist government to resign, but insists he is not plotting a takeover .
"These people who are in a great panic are inventing such things as a coup, and I never attempted and never will attempt" it, he told CNN late Monday, responding to authorities' accusations.
Diplomats from the United States and European countries were seeking to negotiate a peaceful end to the crisis in the continent's poorest nation. Many fear the unrest could spread, further complicating the situation in the neighboring Serbian province of Kosovo, where ethnic Albanian rebels are fighting for independence.
Government sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Monday the Interior Ministry advised foreign diplomats they would try to arrest Berisha on Tuesday unless he left the country.
But the 53-year-old Berisha said he would never leave Albania. He said the building takeovers were simply his supporters' reaction to the slaying of well-known opposition legislator Azem Hajdari, who was gunned down along with a bodyguard Saturday in front of party headquarters.
Berisha blames his rival Nano.
Dan Everts, chief of the Tirana office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the U.S. and European envoys had sent a signal that the Democratic Party had "gone too far."
In Washington Monday, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin condemned the use of violence both by government and insurgent forces, but emphasized the United States would not recognize a government that came to power through violent means.
Washington has backed Nano's efforts at reform. Berisha was Albania's first non-Communist leader after decades under Stalinist Enver Hoxha and his successor, Ramiz Alia. However, his policies became increasingly authoritarian.
--
Kosova Information Centre - London

 MR. RUBIN:  Welcome to the State Department briefing.  Today is Monday. Sorry for the delay this morning; we'll try to do better.
     Let me first say that Secretary Albright will speak at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Thursday, September 17, on the topic of American security and foreign policy  resources in the 21st Century.  The address will begin at approximately 12:45 p.m., and we'll have more details for you.
     I also would like to start the briefing with some comments about Albania. The United States strongly condemns the use of violence for political ends in Albania.  The political leadership in the government and the opposition will be held responsible for resolving the current crisis.  Members of all parties must work together toward a peaceful solution that respects the democratic process.
     The United States will not recognize or work with a government that comes to power through violent means.  We call on the political leadership of Albania to cooperate with the president in working on constructive proposals that will end the current upheaval.  The leaders of all political parties in Albania must take responsibility for the behavior of their followers.  Those that do not play a constructive role must bear the consequences.
     The United States is consulting with the European Union to support those pursuing a peaceful resolution to the current crisis, and we are also committed to support actively any package of measures consisted with the rule of law adopted in the political consultations of the Albanian political leadership.
     Obviously, this is a very serious situation.  The capital is quite tense. I've seen a variety of conflicting reports about the extent of the chaos there. But clearly, this is the worst violence Albania has seen since the unrest of March 1997.

 QUESTION:  I wonder if any of this is spilling over into the Kosovo situation.

 MR. RUBIN:  Well, I'm not aware that the specific violence that's going on right now in Tirana is spilling over directly.  But let me say this - one of the factors that has always been of concern to us is the risk of chaos in this part of the world; not only in Kosovo, but in Albania and potentially, if the situation got worse, in other countries in the region.  So that, in and of itself, we would be concerned about the situation in Albania.  But we're doubly concerned because of the risk that it could pose to broader instability in the region.

 QUESTION:  I kind of wondered the US' position is very much against a greater Albania.  But the ethnic Albanians, who are on the defensive in Kosovo against the Serbs, look to Albania as refuge.  They also have aspirations, support from Albania.  So I just wondered if it makes the diplomacy in Kosovo any more difficult.

 MR. RUBIN:  Certainly, one of the things that has made the diplomacy in Kosovo difficult is the extent to which Northern Albania has been chaotic and lacking in central control, and there has been an inability to be able work directly with some of these people.
     To the extent that Albania would become more chaotic, it does make it harder and harder to try and create a workable arrangement for Kosovo.  On the other hand, we do now have a - the Albanian Kosovars have formed their negotiating team; and through the work of Ambassador Hill, it is our understanding they want to move forward.  As you know, earlier this month, last week, I guess about ten days ago, the Yugoslav side announced its willingness to negotiate an interim accord. So we are still working on that assumption, but I can't rule out in the future that if the Albania situation got worse, that that would make it harder.

 QUESTION:  Can I just get one fast one in ?  What is your description of the coloration of this team?  In other words, remember the old debate about all views being represented?  Is this a team that the US finds receptively --

 MR. RUBIN:  I've spoken to Ambassador Hill about this question, and it is his assessment that this team does include all spectrum of opinion in the Albanian community and that it does, therefore, reflect the broadest possible views as would be necessary to get an agreement that would stick, if we can get such an agreement.

 QUESTION:  Two questions, Jamie - sort of a general one, do you there is a coup currently underway in Albania, first question?  Second question, I gather from your comments that if the answer to the first one is yes, that perhaps the former president may have a role in it; is that your assessment?

 MR. RUBIN:  I am not in a position to declare a coup underway.  Clearly there is chaos, significant chaos in Albania, in Tirana.  I've heard reports of senior officials barricading themselves in their offices; vehicles being stolen; mobs rule, reigning in the streets; policemen not coming out.  We have had a great deal of difficulty contacting senior leaders from the Albanian leadership. But to the extent that we are - I am not in a position now to declare it as a coup. Clearly there is a chaotic situation, a political crisis and a crisis for people living there.

 QUESTION:  And the former president's role in this?

 MR. RUBIN:  The former president's role is an important element in this. Certainly all of those political leaders, including Salih Berisha, ought to know that they will be held responsible for a failure to work this problem out in a civilized and diplomatic and non-violent fashion.

 QUESTION:  Just one more.  So your comment about the US refusing to recognize or work with a party that comes to power through the violent means, I think you said; is that directed at the former president?

 MR. RUBIN:  It's directed - this is a very chaotic situation; it's very hard to know what's going on.  I am not going to be more specific than to say that Salih Berisha is one of those leaders of one of the factions; and that any leader of any faction that is trying to make power come out of the barrel of a gun rather than the dialogue and civil discourse that we believe would be appropriate or political discussions will face the consequences of having power come that way; and we will not work with such a government.

 QUESTION:  I'm not an advocate of recognizing people who come to power by force, but the United States has --

 MR. RUBIN:  Well, that's very good to know.

 QUESTION:  Well, it's only in preference to the question.  The United States has done that before, including in the Congo.  So, I mean, how do you draw distinction between --

 MR. RUBIN:  Well, continually in this job and standing in this place, I'm asked questions that assume total parallelism around the world.  What I try to do is to mix - as policy-makers what we try to do is mix the principles that guide us throughout the international system and the practical situation in particular circumstances.  Depending on that mix, we make judgments.  That's why we're here.  We don't go on auto-pilot in every situation.  It is our judgment that in this case, the situation warrants a very clear statement of our view that the coming to power through violent means will not be recognized by the United States.  We think that's the best position to take at this point.

 QUESTION:  Do you have any reading on the army's activities?  Is the army intact; is it divided?  Does Berisha control part of it now?

 MR. RUBIN:  It's hard to be more specific without being an actual analyst of Albania, which I am not.  But I can say that the situation is sufficiently chaotic; that the reports include the fact that government officials are unclear as to the extent to which the army and the police will play a role in stopping this mob violence.  To the extent that I've seen reports of this, there are significant reports that both the army and the police are intending to stay in their barracks.  So that's what I know.  Beyond that, it would be hard to say.

 QUESTION:  Is the radio station now controlled by Berisha's people?

 MR. RUBIN:  We've seen reports that the radio station has been taken over by some of these mobs.  Exactly who they're reporting to, I am not in a position to answer.

 QUESTION:  What is the American presence now in Tirana, Albania?

 MR. RUBIN:  As I understand it, we have the embassy in a status of temporarily suspending public operations.  We obviously have people there continuing to monitor the situation.  We have active travel warnings for other reasons that are operative there.

 QUESTION:  On the military side - because NATO was setting up an office there. I think there was this big new exercise.  I had the impression that there was going to be a substantial NATO presence at some point.

 MR. RUBIN:  I'd have to check with the Pentagon to see what military presence - whether there are any observers.  Certainly, it's my understanding there are what we call a DATT, a defense attache, that is there.

 QUESTION:  The last question is that the government is clearly beleaguered and is obviously going to need some support.  NATO has some kind of a structure there, and I know you have some presence there.  Is there a readiness to come to the support of the government if they request it?

 MR. RUBIN:  That's premature at this point.  What  I can say is that we are consulting with our European allies about how to promote a peaceful resolution of the situation, which just emerged in the recent days.  Any more on this?

 QUESTION:  On these considerations, do you know if the Secretary has any consultations with her counterparts from neighboring parties or if she is planning to have consultations?

 MR. RUBIN:  I certainly wouldn't rule out consultations in the coming hours or days.  But as of now, that's not my understanding.

 MR. RUBIN:  Neighboring countries have paid a very important role in recent years.

 QUESTION:  No, I'm just saying in the current crisis as sort of a common Front --

 MR. RUBIN:  Well, as you know, Italy played a very important role in assisting the stabilization of Albania in recent years. So again, this is an evolving situation that just emerged overnight, and I don't want to get ahead of ourselves nor rule out the possibility of other steps.

14 September 98

The Times
Serbs force Albanian refugees back to a shattered land
FROM ANTHONY LOYD
IN ISTINIC, KOSOVO

MORE than 50,000 ethnic Albanians abandoned their homes in Kosovo last week after a huge Serb offensive laid waste a swath of territory in the west of the province.
This latest internal exodus brings the number of those displaced to more than 400,000, nearly a quarter of Kosovo's population. Montenegro closed its borders to Kosovo on Saturday and yesterday deported about 3,000 refugees.
In June Mercy Corps International, an independent American-based aid organisation working in Kosovo, listed 149,617 people as displaced.
Three months after the US and its allies threatened President Milosevic of Yugoslavia with Nato airstrikes, this number has rocketed to 411,769, while the potential of foreign intervention has all but faded.
In the war's blackest week to date, Serb armoured columns rampaged through a triangle of rural land between the towns of Pec, Dakovica and Klina destroying village after village.
Though there was little fighting, the zone nevertheless presented a glimpse of the apocalypse. Dense smoke poured into the sky, minarets emerging like rare blooms. Columns of tanks, armoured personnel carriers and vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft guns swept out of the shattered ruins eastwards.
Behind them, scarcely a single Albanian remained. Dead dogs and livestock littered the fields; smashed cars and tractors lay overturned on the verges of empty roads; bandana-clad police looted and burnt whatever the shelling and shooting had left behind.
Kosovo Liberation Army resistance was isolated and ineffective, most of the separatist rebels preferring to abandon their weapons and run.
Early in the week, the Serbs had found their justification for this punitive excess just outside the village of Glodane. Here, in a muddy waste, lay the bodies of at least five murdered Serb civilians. By Sunday, the Serbs had found 19 more.
The people responsible for this crime may or may not have been among the terrified refugees who crowded into Istinic, just beyond Decane. Some 50,000 people from more than 40 villages - sick, hungry and many wounded - had by last Thursday clustered in and around the village.
On Saturday the authorities decided to disperse the refugees back into the zone of destruction from which they had escaped. Armoured personnel carriers corralled the jumble of tractors and carts loaded with refugees while police with sticks gave added encouragment to anyone who missed the message from the bullhorns.
By nightfall, Istinic was empty.

Albanian Cabinet flees armed mob
BY CHRIS BROADHURST

CROWDS stormed the main government building in Tirana yesterday forcing Fatos Nano, the Albanian Prime Minister and his Cabinet to flee in a hail of gunfire. One protester was killed and four guards were wounded. Europe and the United States appealed for calm, fearful that the turmoil could topple the Government and spread to neighbouring Kosovo.
The protesters, incensed by the murder on Saturday of Azem Hajdari, 35, an opposition politician, stormed the government building, opening fire on the third floor, which contains Mr Nano's offices, and then set fire to the building.
Dr Sali Berisha, the leader of the Opposition, blamed Mr Nano's Socialist Party for the the killing of Mr Hajdari and warned him to resign or face "catastrophic consequences." His followers chanted "kill, kill, kill Fatos Nano."
Witnesses said Dr Berisha's followers blocked a motorway with barricades and flaming tyres and seized the police station at Kavaja, 18 miles southwest of the capital.
At the same time, the Interior Ministry reported "unlawful developments" in "other towns" but gave no further details. Ministry spokesman, Artan Bizhga also said the situation in the country's maximum security prison was "tense".
The US Embassy in Tirana urged Albanians to "put down their weapons, cease threatening violence and pursue legitimate democratic and legal means to deal with the situation."
"Leaders of all Albania's political parties must behave responsibly," the American statement said.
The violence raised fears of a repeat of the 1997 nationwide riots which swept Albania after the collapse of pyramid investment schemes that cost many Albanians their life savings.

West appeals for restraint in Tirana

AN APPEAL to all political party leaders in Albania to behave responsibly was made by the United States and the European Union yesterday after crowds, angry at the assassination of an opposition leader, stormed the main government building in Tirana and set it on fire. Fatos Nano, the Prime Minister, and his Cabinet were forced to flee through a back exit.
The US Embassy said the assassination "should not be exploited or misused to undercut the democracy Albanians want and have struggled so long to build". It was "vitally important" that democratic institutions were respected.
Rioters seeking vengeance took to the streets of the capital after gunmen killed Azem Hajdari, a close political associate and friend of Sali Berisha, the former President. One protester was killed and four guards were wounded while defending Mr Nano's office, the police said.
The US Embassy added: "However, the forces of law and order must pursue the killers of Hajdari in order to quickly bring to justice those who have broken the law."
The EU presidency, currently held by Austria, said the assassination could lead to further violence and make national reconciliation even more difficult. "The EU calls on all Albanian political parties, especially to the Democratic Party, to show restraint in their declarations and actions," a statement said.
The crackle of gunfire and explosions from burning government cars echoed through the streets of this unstable former communist capital.
Elsewhere, witnesses said, armed crowds of opposition supporters blockaded the main road near Kavaja, about 18 miles southwest of Tirana. Dr Berisha warned Mr Nano, his Socialist rival, to resign within 24 hours or face a popular uprising against his Government. Whether the unrest develops into a revolution depends on how much support Dr Berisha can muster.
Tirana's central Martyrs' Boulevard and surrounding streets were largely deserted and calm yesterday afternoon, but Dr Berisha's loyalists were planning an all-night vigil for Mr Hajdari, to be followed by a funeral today. Dr Berisha said he hoped that at least 100,000 mourners would come. Contacted by telephone, he said: "For the good of the nation I ask him to resign. I cannot guarantee security and if he does not step down, there will be dramatic events."
His voice choked as he referred to Mr Hajdari as "a symbol to everyone and an independent man".
Many of Dr Berisha's Democratic Party faithful were equally shocked by Mr Hajdari's bloody end on Saturday night, when he and a bodyguard were shot a few yards from party headquarters.
Mr Nano's response - a $100,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the killers - was not enough and his Cabinet meeting soon faced the wrath of the mob. Cars were smashed and set alight, then the ground floor offices of the government building were ransacked and put to the torch. Amid the pandemonium of gunfire, exploding petrol tanks and dense black smoke, Mr Nano and his colleagues hurried away through a fire escape. Order was restored only after special police had fired volleys of shots into the air.
Dr Berisha blamed the assassination on Mr Nano. "It is known who did it.
We have witnesses, we know everything about it." The killers, he said, were a police clique promoted to the top ranks of the security services by the Prime Minister. There is little love lost between the two politicians, who have dominated Albanian politics since the death of Enver Hoxha and the collapse of his Marxist-Leninist state a decade ago.
Dr Berisha accuses Mr Nano of having maintained his links with the communist past; Mr Nano says he was unjustly jailed by Dr Berisha after his first Socialist Government fell in 1991, with help from Mr Hajdari, who was then a student leader. Eleven months ago Mr Hajdari was shot by a Socialist deputy in the national parliament and shortly afterwards a motorcade in which he was travelling was hit by more than 150 bullets.

The Daily Telegraph
Riots erupt in Tirana after MP's murder
By Nanette van der Laan, East Europe Correspondent

RIOTS broke out in the Albanian capital, Tirana, yesterday when about 2,000 demonstrators stormed the main government building and set fire to the prime minister's office in protest at the killing of an opposition MP.
Crowds fired guns in the air and hurled stones at police. Reports said one person died and at least four were wounded in the clashes.
Daan Everts, ambassador of the Organisation for Security and Co- operation in Europe in Tirana, said: "It is relatively calm now but I fear this could be the quiet before the storm."
The demonstrators were responding to the assassination of Azem Hajdari, an opposition Democratic Party deputy. Mr Hajdari was hit by a volley of automatic weapons fire as he emerged from his party's headquarters on Saturday night. One of his two bodyguards was also killed.
No one admitted responsibility, but Sali Berisha, the opposition leader, said the murder had been ordered by the prime minister, Fatos Nano, who denied the charge. Mr Berisha said he would give the prime minister 24 hours to resign or the opposition would use "all means" to force him out.

The Independent
Murder takes Albania to brink of war
By Paul Wood Balkans Correspondent

Thousands of Albanian opposition supporters rampaged through the capital, Tirana, yesterday, storming the prime minister's office building in a day of violent demonstrations which raised fears that the country is on the brink of civil war.
Volleys of shots rang out as the rioters broke into buildings housing the office of the Socialist prime minister, Fatos Nano. Armed police ejected them after they tried to torch the building.
Government cars were turned over and set alight by the demonstrators, supporters of the right-wing Democratic Party leader and former president Sali Berisha, himself ousted in an armed uprising last year.
One demonstrator was said to have been killed and four police officers wounded.
The unrest follows the weekend murder of a leading Democratic Party politician, Azem Hajdari, shot dead near opposition headquarters in Tirana by attackers in police uniforms.
Mr Berisha claimed the killing was a political assassination organised by the government, and he called on the prime minister to resign within 24 hours "to avoid the worst".
Mr Berisha told the BBC World Service: "The country is in the most dramatic moment it could be."
Tirana is abuzz with rumours about why Mr Hajdari, a former student leader, was killed. But the claim that the authorities were behind the murder was dismissed by political analysts as "absurd".
Yesterday's riots showed that the Albanian government is unable to maintain order, even in the capital, when confronted by a direct challenge. Few believe it would be in the Socialists' interests to provoke unrest by killing one of their opponents. The government also yesterday condemned the murder and announced a $100,000 reward to catch the killers.
Among the theories circulating in Tirana is that Mr Hajdari was a casualty in a gang war to control the lucrative black market in weapons being smuggled to ethnic Albanian rebels in Serbia, the Kosovo Liberation Army. He was from the northern town of Tropoja - the centre of operations for weapons smugglers - and one source close to the KLA said Mr Hajdari's clan was involved in the trade.
Others say he was killed in one of Albania's traditional blood feuds, or even that he was murdered by the Serbian secret police. Mr Berisha's opponents are circulating the opinion that the former president had a hand in the killing, or is taking advantage of it.
"He is trying to organise a civil war to get back into office," said one Tirana political insider and long-standing critic of Mr Berisha. "He has been threatening to do this for a long time, and now it has started."
Mr Berisha was elected in 1992, Albania's first democratic leader after 50 years of a brutal Communist dictatorship which had closed the country to the outside world and left its citizens the poorest in Europe.
But five years later, he was ejected from office after widespread protests about fraudulent pyramid investment schemes - in which most Albanians lost money - turned into armed insurrection.
The former president claimed yesterday that he would not try to take advantage of the current unrest to usurp power, and denied trying to whip up supporters.
He pledged that the Democratic Party would not take office again until the Albanian people had voted in a new election. "A political solution is vital for this country," he said.
Tension is rising as the end of Mr Berisha's 24-hour deadline for the prime minister to resign approaches later today.
Some see the unrest as a side-effect of the war in Kosovo. Albania is a refuge for soldiers of the Kosovo Liberation Army, regrouping as it suffers defeat after defeat at the hands of the Serbian security forces.
Mr Berisha has been vociferous in his support of the Kosvars, accusing the Socialist government of watching while genocide is committed against their ethnic kin. His opponents claim that KLA fighters may well be used by Mr Berisha if civil war does break out in Albania.
Last night there were unconfirmed reports that Democratic Party supporters had set up roadblocks on the national highway outside Tirana.
--
Kosova Information Centre - London

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